TNAG-1724-FCO40-2437-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 358

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rent concession should be applicable to t'sos and t'ongs on

all of the members of which are indigenous

that

の

the condition

Capo

डे

that

villagers. However, the

the same privilege will not be applicable to those t'sos and t'ongs the membership of which does not consist,

or has at any time ceased to consist, entirely of indigenous

villagers.

The Bill defines an indigenous villager as a person who

was in 1898 a resident of an established village in the New

Territories or is descended through the male line from such a

person. Hence the meaning of "indigenous villager" rests heavily on the meaning of "established village", which the Bill defines as the Crown a village established under Block/Lease granted by, or on behalf

of, the Governor. This creates much concern among New Territories villagers because they were given to understand that

the Joint Declaration only refers to an indigenous villager as a

person who was in 1898 a

an resident of established village in

the

Hong Kong, or a person descended through the male line from such a

the person con

Neither has the Joint Declaration made reference to -â

block lease, nor has the Government in the past publicly recognised indigenous villagers for its various purposes on the basis of blocke

lock lease.

The

Looxn

lease.

and

The Administration claims that it has checked the record

of the Block Lease of 1905 and is satisfied that it has included all the pre-1898 villages, and that the survey based upon which the Block Lease was prepared was so detailed that no village would be left out. However, some New Territories villagers have disputed the completeness and accuracy of the Block Lease and are parpared to take up with the Administration their claims that they were descended from residents of pre-1898 villages which were not

recorded in the Block Lease.

Crow

Crown

By making the Block Lease the only evidence of the status of pre-1898 villages, the Bill leaves no opportunity for

those villagers who wish to

to establish their indigenous status evidence other than the Block Lease, for example, evidence such as

on the