645553-1894-Ordinances-Nos-7-and-8-of-1894-Assented-to — Page 3

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 29TH SEPTEMBER, 1894.

No. 8 or 1894.

An Ordinance enacted by the Governor of Hong- kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, for the Summary Resumption of certain Crown Lands situate in the Taipingshan District of the City of Victoria and for other purposes.

LS WILLIAM ROBINSON,

WH

Governor.

[26th September, 1894.]

HEREAS the Crown Leases of lands in this Colony usually provide that the lands thereby demised may be resumed by the Crown if required for the improvement of the Colony or for any other public purposes on three months' notice being given and upon payment of full and fair com- pensation to be assessed by the Director of Public Works. And whereas if such assessment is not satisfactory there is no incans of obtaining possession of the land keept by suit at law.

And whereas by The Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, 1889, it is provided that whenever the Governor in Commeil decides that the resumption of any land is expe- dient in the interest of the public, it shall be lawful for the Governor to enter into private negotiations with the owner of such land for the purchase thereof, and upon failure of such negotiations to give written notice that such lands will be resumed upon the expiration of four months from publication of such notice. And whereas the Colony and especially the Taipingshan District of the City of Victoria has recently been visited by a formidable epidemic disease known as the Bubonic Plague.

And whereas certain portions of the said district have been found to be in a highly insanitary condition and the inhabitants thereof have, by the orders of the Sanitary Board, been removed therefrom, the houses closed and the streets and approaches thereto blocked up. And whereas it is expedient for the prevention of such visitation in the future and for the improvement of the Colony that the houses or some of them in the said portions of the said Taipingshan District should be pulled down and destroyed and that the area or a portion thereof should be laid out afresh and redrained. And whereas the procedure under the terms of the Crown Leases is unsatisfactory and one-sided and may lead to protracted law suits, and the procedure under The Crown Lunds Resumption Ordinance, 1889, involves protracted negotiations and long delays and both procedures are unsuitable to the urgency of the case.

Be it enacted, by the Governor of Hongkong, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-

1. This Ordinance may be cited as The Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance, 1894.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise re- <quires,――

(1) Court means the Supreme Court of Hongkong,

(2) The Crown meaus Her Majesty, Her Heirs and

Successors.

(3) House includes any building of any kind what- soever, rows, blocks or groups of houses together with any yard, out-honses and appurtenances belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith. (4) Street includes any road, court, alley, pathway,

by-lane, or square.

(5) Owner includes all Crown lessees, assignces of the whole or any portion, section, or sub-section of any lot, mortgagees in possession and trustees in whose names any land resumed under this Or- dinance stands registered in the Land Office of this Colony.

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