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(c)
arrangements for staffing the government service as a
whole (including the balance between expatriate officers
and local officers) need reviewing. There is a serious
shortage of middle level staff, brought about by the rapid
expansion in almost all departments in recent years. We
must somehow overcome the problems involved in seconding to
Hong Kong officers from the FCO or the Home Civil Service
who have specialised knowledge. The ODM should be able to
help in this respect more than they do at present;
(d) finally, a gesture of confidence on the part of HMG is
urgently required the more spectacular the better. The
best thing would be a favourable response to the request of
the Government for a loan to finance the extension of
Kai Tak Airport, but it has not so far been possible to
obtain agreement to this.
Hong Kong Department
21 September, 1970
Distribution
Sir L. Monaon
Sir S. Tomlinson
Mr. Wilford
Mr. Morgan, FED.
Mr. Gaminara Mr. Kinnear
(E. 0. Laird)
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G. F. Kinnear, Esq.,
Hong Kong Dept.
DROI
In Beln.
We hav
bellen hen a file
d
Или
popus.
рор
With the compliments of
ECONOMISTS DEPARTMENT
パ
7/10
You asked for the return of
these papers. Mr. Wright has not yet had time to give them the attention they deserve, but he has taken a copy of them and will give you his comments
shortly.
P. Lond
(P.A. to Mr. Wright)
21:9:70.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London, S.W.1
Mr. Wright
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Reference...
4.
1
Hong Kong: some basic questions
Please see this exchange of minutes with Mr. Kinnear
of Hong Kong Department and the set of 27 highly loaded questions compiled by the Political Adviser in Hong Kong, Mr. Maddocks.
2.
#
From the files I find you have already expressed views
८
on several of these questions and have exchanged minutes with Mr. Holland. Some papers are flagged on files A252 and MM1/393/1 below. I have also flagged the budget speech of 25 February 1970 and a minute by Mr. Kinnear on the budget debate on file HKK5/19
below.
3.
For what they may be worth I give below a few scattered
comments :
Question 1: I attach a copy of Appendix II from the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 1970/71. This gives a summary of Hong Kong's revenue and expenditure, divided into recurrent and capital, over 22 years. A remarkable feature is the preva- lence of budget surpluses, with deficits appearing in only 2 years. The revised estimates for 1969/70 show yet another surplus, and
a record one too. The trend over the past three years is more
than buoyant :-
(HK.
A. Total
revenue
(% increase
over year
B. Budget
surplus
million)
B. as %
of A.
previous)
1967/8
1899.5
(4.5)
+ 133.5
7.0
1968/9
2081.1
(9.6)
+ 208.1
10.0
1969/70(RE) 2436.7
(17.1)
+ 348.2
14.3
What is still more remarkable is the nature of these budget sur-
pluses. They are not conventional surpluses on current accounts
but over-all surpluses after debiting all capital expenditure. I have calculated' below the surpluses on current account :-
(HK.8 million)
1969/70 (RE)
Current Account
1967/8
1968/9
A. Revenue
1794.8
1998.7
2285.8
B Expenditure
1305.1
1496.0
1687.1
C. Surplus
489.7
502.7
598.7
C as % of A
27.3
25.2
26.2
/^rc^/These:
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