ENG-1953 — Page 71

Chapter 6

PRODUCTION

Land Utilization and Tenure

Land Ownership. All land in the Colony is held on lease- hold tenure granted by the Crown and with one or two rare exceptions, such as some of the existing holdings of the Naval and Military authorities and the Saint John's Cathedral com- pounds, there is no freehold tenure.

In the early days of the Colony, leases were granted for 75 years, 999 years or 99 years. The present practice is for leases to be granted for a period of 75 years, renewable for one further term of 75 years at a re-assessed Crown rent. In the New Territories, in order to coincide with the period of the lease from China, which expires on 30th June, 1997, Crown leases are conventionally expressed as being for a term of 75 years from the 1st of July, 1898, renewable for a further term of 24 years, less the last three days.

In recent years, certain groups of the 75 year Crown leases granted in the early years of the Colony, such as rural building lots, in the Victoria Peak district, and Kowloon inland lots on the mainland, have reached the expiry dates. Public state- ments of Government's policy in regard to the terms and conditions upon which new Crown leases would be granted were made in 1946 and 1949. Terms and conditions for the grants of new leases have already been agreed in a large number of these cases, and other leases will become due for renewal in A rapidly increasing numbers as further categories fall due. further statement in 1952, intimated that Government would be prepared to pay ex-gratia compensation for buildings law- fully erected on certain Kowloon inland lots, the leases of

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