726810-1856-GOVERNMENT-NOTIFICATION-NO-50 — Page 1

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SUPPLEMENT TO THE

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GAZETTE.

VICTORIA, TUESDAY, 22D APRIL, 1856.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

VOL. I. No. 43.

The Contract for publishing this Gazette, entered into on the 24th September, 1853, was terminated on the 30th ultimo ; and notice is hereby given, that a NEW SERIES of this Gazette will be published hereafter, to commence from the 7th instant, under a New Contract, and that

“THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE”

will, as before, be the only Official Organ for PROCLAMATIONS, NOTIFICATIONS, and PUBLIO PAPERS, of this Government.

By Order,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 2d July, 1855.

W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.

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No. 50.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

ients Pro- South

With reference to Government Notification No 23, of 25th February last, His Excellency The Governor is pleased to direct, that the authority for the Constitution of the Bowring Praya Commission, together with the Report now delivered in by the Members of that Commission, be published for general information.

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By Order,

W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.

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Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 16th April, 1856.

WHEREAS for the furtherance of the works projected by my Government in and about the formation of the Bowring Praya, certain preliminary enquiries are necessary, and whereas such enquiries will be most conveniently and expeditiously prosecuted by means of a Commission: Now therefore know ye, that I, SIR JOHN BOWRING, Knight, LL.D., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, do hereby, under my hand and the Seal of the said Colony, appoint you, Thomas Chisholm Anstey, Esquire, Her Majesty's Attorney-General for the said Colony-William Cowper, Esquire, Captain of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers, and Acting Surveyor-General for the said Colony,-and Julius Charles Power, Esquire, or any two of you, to be a Commission for instituting and prosecuting all needful or proper enquiries in that behalf, and to take evidence (but not upon Oath) in the premises. And to report to me all evidence so taken by you, and also your opinions thereon. And I do hereby require you to com- mence your said enquiries forthwith, and to proceed therein continuously, and to make your Report to me as aforesaid with all reasonable despatch. And I do further require you, in executing this your Commission, to address yourselves particularly to the questions specified in the Schedule hereunto annexed; And I do hereby empower you, during the course, and for the purposes of your said Commission, to demand and, obtain access at all times to all and all manner of Papers, Records, and Documents relating to the subject matter of the said Commission, and in the custody or under the control of the several Public Departments within this Colony. And from time to time to call before you and examine all persons superintending or employed in or under any of the said Departments. And I do hereby charge

herein. all persons in the Public Service to be aiding and assisting unto you

Given under my Hand and under the Seal of the Colony of Hongkong, at Victoria in the said Colony, this Twenty-fifth day of

February, A.D. One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Six.

JOHN BOWRING,

ng.

, Ona

THE SCHEDULE IN THE ABOVE COMMISSION REFERRED TO.

*

I. Whether the Government of this Island ought or ought not to undertake the entire construction of the said Prays, or of any and what part

thereof ?

IL After what rate or rates ought the present holders of Marine Lots to be admitted into the possession and occupation of the ground lying

between their proper boundaries and the Praya, where the construction shall have been undertaken by the Government ! III. In the event of some of the holders of Marine Lots being willing, and others of them being unwilling, to undertake the construction at their own expense, ought or ought not the Government to undertake the construction of so much of the said Praya as shall lie to the front of the lote of the unwilling holders, and to allow the willing holders to undertake or proceed with their proportion of the work in respect of their own lots ? IV. Ought or ought not the Bonham Strand portion of the said Prays to be commenced together with the other portions thereof, or when else! V. What provision ought to be made for the shipping and landing of goods, and the embarking and disembarking of passengers at and along the

said Praya when completed i

:

REPORT

OF THE

BOWRING PRAYA COMMISSION.

May it please Your Excellency,--We, the Commissioners appointed by Your Excellency's Commission under Seal of the 25th day of February, A.D. 1956, for instituting and prosecuting certain preliminary enquiries in furtherance of the works projected by Your Excellency's Government in and about the formation of the Bowring Praya, particularly addressing ourselves to the Five Questions specified in the Schedule to the said Commission annexed,—

Have considered the matters referred to us, and have agreed to the following Report -

The Five Questions above specified appear to us to have embraced every substantial matter of enquiry; and it will be seen from the Minutes of Evidence contained in Appendix I, that the witnesses whom we called in and examined also entertained that opinion. There is but little to be found, either in their evidence, or in the body of documentary evidence compiled in Appendix 17, which does not range itself under one or other of those Five heads of Enquiry. In reporting our opinions, together with the evidence taken, as required by our Commission, we shall therefore follow the order of arrangement suggested by those questions, taking care of course to specify, in their appropriate places, all such matters as came incidentally under notice in the course of the enquiry, and did not

cessarily arise out of either of those Five Points.