Sec. T.C. 423/50 DCB/CD
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SAVINGRAM
To the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
From the Governor, Hong Kong.
Date.....13 August
No.....
930.
1951
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I request your approval of the grant of a 25-year lease of about 81,000 sq. ft. of land at Repulse Bay, Hong Kong, to The Repulse Bay Enterprises, Ltd. on payment of an annual sum exclusive of Rates and Property Tax amounting to $50,000. The land is situated along the edge of Repulse Bay above highwater mark, and the purpose of the grant is to provide bathing and other facilities for the public.
2. Repulse Bay is the most popular bathing beach on the Island of Hong Kong, because of its size and proximity to the urban areas. Since the war, bathing facilities have been provided by contractors appointed for the season, and consist of a number of small tents in which visitors to the beach can change their clothes. In response to a considerable public demand, Government decided to provide more substantial accommodation and plans were accordingly prepared by the Public Works Department, and tenders called for in October, 1949. The tender recommended by the Tender Board amounted to 8422,637 and, in view of the expense and the preoccupation of the Public Works Department with other more urgent work I decided, on the advice of Executive Council, that Government should not erect or operate the beach pavilions, but that public tenders should be invited for the erection and operation of the pavilions on conditions to be laid down by Government.
3. In pursuance of this decision the Tender Notice attached as Enclosure A was published in the Gazette of the 18th August, 1950, and the Conditions of Tender attached as Enclosure B were approved. In response to this notice three tenders were received, and the Tender Board recommended the acceptance of the lowest tender in the sum of $76,000 per year from Dr. Chau Sik-Nin acting on behalf of The Repulse Bay Enterprises Ltd., a newly registered Limited Company. I am satisfied that the design of the project and the scope of the facilities offered by Dr. Chau and his associates is far preferable to either of the schemes put forward by the other two tenderers, despite the fact that the rival tenders were in sums of 881,000 and $120,000 per year; and the high. standing in which Dr. Chau and his associates are held will ensure that the facilities provided for the public will be of the best possible standard.
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All the tenders were submitted on the understanding that the sum tendered would be inclusive of Rates and Property Tax, and in fact prospective tenderers were informed that they should base their bids on this assumption. Thereafter, when the matter was considered in Executive Council, it was pointed out that an annual payment which is inclusive of Rates and Property Tax would, in effect, give the successful tenderer the advantage of being exempt from any subsequent increase in the scale of these taxes throughout the 25-year term. Subsequent negotiations with the Company and discussions in Executive Council have been somewhat protracted, and meanwhile the rising cost of building materials has affected the Company's ability to adhere to the sum originally tendered.
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An agreement has now been reached, which is acceptable to the Company and approved by Executive Council, whereby the former
REGISTRAR'S O
20 AUG 1957
COLONIAL C
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