Objects and Reasons.
1. It is a recognised principle of English law that owners of land may be required by the Legislature to surrender some or all of the rights they possess in or over their land for purposes of public utility. It is an equally recognised principle that (save in certain exceptional cases of emergency with which we are not now concerned) it is unjust to require that surrender without making provision for due compensation to those whose private rights are affected. When the land itself has to be surrendered it is said to be compulsorily taken or purchased; but if some only of the rights in or over the land are required to be given up the land is commonly said to be injuriously affected.
2. In England the necessary authority to take or injuriously affect land is obtained from Parliament, either directly by an Act passed for the purpose, or indirectly under Acts containing general powers which may be exercised for particular purposes and upon certain conditions. The former class of Act usually specifies the land which may be taken and limits the time within which the acquisition must take place. The latter class contains no such limitations but in many cases some form of order is required before the powers can be put into force.
3. In this Colony both the direct and the indirect have been adopted in the past. Examples of such local Legislation are the Praya Reclamation Ordinance, 1889, The Praya East Reclamation Ordinance, 1921, the Harbour of Refuge Ordin- ance, 1909, the Foreshores and Sea Bed Ordinances of 1901 and 1932, and the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, 1900. Under some of these Ordinances, subject to the payment of compensation, private land can be taken for public purposes. Under others while the land itself is not taken provision is made for compensation where it has been injuriously affected by the loss of access to the sea where leases of foreshore and sea bed are granted.
4. But it seems that, unless the land itself is required or unless a Crown Lease of property is to be granted. our Legislature has not so far provided for the cases where private land is not required but may nevertheless be injuriously affected by a reclamation or other improvement which is to be retained for public use as a roadway, pier approach or other work which the Government undertakes in the interests of the Colony generally.
5. The works set out in the Schedule to this Bill belong to this category. They have been undertaken over and upon unleased Crown foreshores and sea bed without complaint but at the same time without legislative authority, other than that which is contained in the Annual Appropriation Ordin- ances which have justified expenditure on the undertakings but have contained no provision for the extinction of rights or for compensation where compensation is due.
6. The possibility of enacting a Bill which while validating past works would give the Government general power to undertake similar works in the future has been carefully explored and been found open to serious objection. It has therefore been abandoned.
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