THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH MARCH, 1889.
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(b.) A probable return estimated, (according to the low rate of $1 per square foot), at $300,000, from land in Kennedytown now useless, which will be converted into valuable building sites by the removal of rock and earth for the proposed reclamation.
(c.) Rent from the sites last mentioned and from the reclaimed land
estimated at $29,200 per annum.
Briefly summarised the pecuniary profit which is estimated as likely to accrue to the Government from this scheme is $1,741,587 from land-sales and an annual income from rent amounting to $29,200.
It will be observed that in the above estimate of advantages no account has been taken of the large amount, estimated at $100,000 per annum to be derived from the rates that will be payable in respect of the buildings erected on the reclaimed land and on the Kennedytown sites mentioned, the reason of the omission being that it is difficult to forecast at the moment how far this sum will be absorbed by additional charges for Police Stations, Police, Lighting, &c. It is not at all probable that these charges will reach so large a total or anything like it; but in setting forth the benefits of the scheme, the Governor desires to err, if at all, on the side of under-statement.
There is, however, another beneficial result which may be fairly added, as though prin- cipally of an aesthetic nature, it is nevertheless a very appreciable one, viz.: the greatly improved appearance in the front of the Town which will be brought about by the super- vision to be exercised in respect of the character of the buildings erected.
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In view of this catalogue of advantages, it cannot be doubted that the prosecution of this great scheme is in the strictest sense a "public purpose' as defined by the Ordinance, and, the question whether the lot-holders should receive somewhat more or less profit would seem, after all, of such comparative insignificance, that it should not be permitted for a moment to stand in the way of so vast a public improvement.
For against the expected profits of the private persons concerned has to be set the risk, by no means slight, which they will have to incur in respect of typhoons and other accidents; while as regards both the rent to be paid by them, ($800 per acre), and the large area (26 acres) for streets, which the public will obtain free of cost, the conditions under which this work will be undertaken are at least more onerous than have been exacted from the adjoining lot-owners in the case of any previous reclamations. And when it is moreover considered that an enterprise involving great, many and varied interests will be carried out with comparatively little, and it is hoped without any litigation, the Governor cannot but feel that the Colony is to be congratulated on the conclusion of the arrangement to be sanctioned by this Ordinance, which, whether it is, or is not, as perfect as it might : have been, will in any case confer incalculable benefits on the community.
The details of the Ordinance, which may very possibly require amendment, will perhaps be best left for discussion in Committee; but the Governor thinks it well to refer briefly to an objection which he understands has been made to the third paragraph of the 6th clause of the published draft, by which compensation to dissentient lot-holders is left to the discretion of the Governor. It is needless to say that the Government has no desire to accord other than the fullest justice in respect of private rights; and though the provision in question has no doubt an arbitrary appearance, that aspect of it will probably disappear altogether from unprejudiced minds when the circumstances are fully considered. It should be remem- bered in the first place that the tenure of every one of the lot-holders is under a lease containing a condition, by which his land may at any time be resumed for a public purpose, the Surveyor General being in such case constituted the sole arbitrator--so that if the land of any lot-holder were to be, as it legitimately might be, resumed for this public purpose, the position created for him by a condition to which he has voluntarily submitted already, could hardly be regarded as preferable to that contemplated by the proposed enact- ment. There is however a more importaut consideration to be taken into account. provision was presumably drafted, and sanctioned by the Secretary of State, on the assump- tion of the correctness of the opinion above referred to, according to which the frontage lot-holders have no legal rights in the foreshore. In this view they are strictly entitled to compensation only in respect of the actual depreciation of their property by the reclamation in front of it; and as in the case of former reclamations here the value of the adjoining land has never, the Governor understands, been affected otherwise than favourably, it is very possible that the lot-holder, if in this case left to his legal rights alone, would obtain no compensation at all. But by the provision in question there can be taken into account the moral claims above mentioned; so that instead of being a hardship to the dissentient lot-holder, the clause in reality will operate for his protection. If however. there should prove to be any lot-holder who not only declines the agreement which has received the approval of the great majority and is embodied in this Ordinance, but also prefers to stand solely on his legal rights, it seems only fair that means should be found for enabling him to do so.
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