Secretariat file 13/736/47.
No. 279.
Sir,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
16th November, 1948.
Enclosure I
Enclosure II
I have the honour to request permission for the sale by private treaty to The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (China) Limited of a piece of land measuring approximately 1,832,900 square feet at MA YAU TONG in the New Territories, on the terms and conditions set out in Enclosure I, for the
The purpose of an oil installation and ancillary purposes. location of the site is illustrated in the plan at Enclosure II on which the area is outlined red, and includes a portion hachured red measuring about 215,000 square feet which requires to be reclaimed. The inset key plan on Enclosure II shows that the site is near and to the north-west of LEI U MUN, the eastern entrance to the Harbour.
2.
I understand from enquiries made locally that the Company is an entirely British concern and that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom has a 51% holding in it.
3.
reasons:-
(a)
(b)
I recommend sale by private treaty for the following
In a strategic industry of this nature it is expedient to afford a well established British firm some assistance and protection against foreign- owned rivals which might themselves bid in public auction or stimulate others to do so as a means of frustrating a trade rival.
Similar factors were held to have weight when an application for the sale of land by private treaty to the British Oxygen Company Limited was under consideration and were put forward in my telegram
You agreed to
(6) + (7) on 54349/46, No. 1740 of the 23rd December, 194,6.
4.
(c)
47 that sale by private treaty in your telegram No.26
of the 6th January, 1947.
This is the only remaining site considered suitable for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's installation and this is the best use to which the land can be put.
The premium has been fixed by reference to the price paid at public auction by the Asiatic Petroleum Company for a similar site at KUN TONG. The figure realised in that sale was $1.62 per square foot, and a reduction in the present case to 80 cents is recommended after taking into consideration the greater cost which the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (China) Limited will incur by reason of the reclamation and site formation which are required.
5.
I also propose with your approval to give the Company an option, exercisable within five years from the date of the agreement with them, to purchase the areas outlined green in the plan or any part of them (subject to any rights already /existing therein)
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
ARTHUR CREECH JONES, M.P.
7
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