TNAG-0502-FCO40-567-Petitions-for-reinstatement-of-Crown-land-permits-in-Hong-Ko-1974 — Page 35

BL..1/3/41/93

Government House, Hong Kong.

10th April, 1974.

The Right Honourable James Callaghan,

M.P.,

Secretary of State for Foreign &

Commonwealth Affairs,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London S.W. 1,

England.

Sir,

Petition by Mr. LAW Kam-sang

I attach a petition dated 30th July, 1973 from Mr. LAW Kam-sang, Manager of the Tai Shan Quarry Company, seeking the reinstatement of the Crown Land Permits under which he operated the quarry and which were cancelled in December 1970, or compensation in lieu. This matter has required a great deal of research and the consequent delay in forwarding the petition is regretted.

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was

The case has to be seen against a background of a change of policy regarding the leasing of quarries. Prior to 1969 most quarries in the New Territories were let subject to the conditions of a Crown Land Permit, which was issued on application, provided that the area

suitable. As the Crown land permit provided for only three months' notice of termination there was little incentive for operators to invest substantially in the provision of safety measures or in the most economic methods of quarrying. The result was that many permit quarries fell irretrievably below acceptable standards of operation. In 1969 a new quarry policy was introduced whereby permit quarries were to be phased out and replaced by major quarries to be let on a tender basis for comparatively long periods, in which a high standard of safety and operation could be insisted upon and enforced. In implementing this policy, the owners of permit quarries were given the required three months' notice of termination, and compensation was not payable.

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h the case of Mr. Law, he had been operating the quarry illegally since 1958 and it was not until 1961 that Crown Land Permit No. Y9220 was granted in order to rectify the situation. In 1963 a further permit No. Y6149 was issued to allow certain temporary structures comprising an office, a canteen and workers' quarters to remain on the site.

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