TNAG-0843-FCO40-1053-Visit-of-Lord-Carrington--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-1979 — Page 57

SECRET

ORDER IN COUNCIL: EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. Citation and interpretation.

This article is formal.

Paragraph (1) gives a name to the Order and paragraph (2) simply

attracts the provisions of the current United Kingdom Statute

for the interpretation of laws. Paragraph (3) gives some

flexibility in determining the date on which the Order will

come into force.

This empowers the

2. Power to grant indeterminate leases.

Governor to grant new leases without a fixed date and to convert

existing leases into indeterminate leases. The phrase "and such

a lease shall continue in force unless and until it is determined

or forfeited ......." has been chosen with great care. We had

earlier considered using wording on the lines of: "and such a

lease shall continue in force for so long as Her Majesty may

administer the New Territories". This would, however, have the

disadvantage of depriving lessees of their title on the day when

British administration ceased.

3.

The

Provision for administration of the New Territories.

purpose of this article is to make it clear that the Hong Kong

Government will be acting within its legal rights in contemplating

a future beyond 1097, and may continue as the lawf governmer t

of the New Territories after that date. It will minimise the risk

of a challenge to local legislation in the Hong Kong Courts, which

could be damaging for confidence. The inclusion of the phrase

"and the Governor shall continue to exercise executive authority

/in

SECRET