TNAG-1963-FCO40-2795-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Commonwealth-War-Graves-Commission-1989 — Page 41

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draft of the Land

or

Commission paper referred to in paragraph 10. A copy is enclosed. However, we are still thinking through how Deeds of Appropriation could best be used. One area we are working on is whether Deeds of Appropriation should all be made out in perpetuity whether an expiry date should be specified

specified in certain cases. For example, in some cases there appears to be merit in putting an expiry date on a Deed of Appropriation drawn up in respect of an extension to a private cemetery so that the Deed would be co-terminous with the lease under which the existing cemetery was granted.

Our thinking on the management arrangement for the Cemeteries and the sharing of maintenance cost between the Commission and the Hong Kong Government is set out in paragraph 12 and 13 respectively.

We would welcome your comments on the proposals in the paper and on the approach to be adopted in relation to the Land Commission in general. Once we have reached agreement at official level on the proposed course of action, we shall seek ExCo policy approval on the proposal outlined in the Land Commission paper. You may then wish to probe the Commonwealth War Graves Commission informally to see if they have any difficulties with our proposals before we put them forward to the Land Commission.

Yours Eve

Donald

c.c. British Embassy, Peking

UK REP JLG HK

Donald Tsang Secretary, General Duties

Encl.