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Last year it had been £15 million. There were no major administrative problems: the new pay scales were all right. He had drawn the attention of Mr. Hattersley to ways of improving conditions, which were not as good as for the troops in Singapore, for instance. There was a housing problem as in the rest of the Colony. There was very little military crime. The main problem was political- to give the public confidence in the defence forces. The authorities tried to play down the new defence arrangements that the British Government were adopting in Asia.
22. When asked about mixing with the local population General Eugster said it was difficult to arrange this though efforts were made. When asked about the Gurkhas he said that they presented no problem but arrangements would have to be made for them to spend some time outside the Colony if they were permanently stationed there. Sir David Trench pointed out that the main problem over the defence contribution was one of presentation.
23. Mr. Stewart asked whether there were other points which anyone wished to raise with the British Government.
24. Sir David Trench said that in general there was not as much trust as there should be in the United Kingdom amongst Hong Kong people. There were many pinpricks. Of course the good things did not attract attention. But basically confidence in Britain's friendship towards Hong Kong was not good. Local people felt that the British put their hands in Hong Kong's pockets and did not always remember that they were governing Hong Kong for the benefit of Hong Kong and not Her Majesty's Government. There was no worry about such questions as the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but over lack of help with the tunnel, for instance, until the French came on the scene, and lack of help with dockyard employment.
25. Mr. Holmes said that the local people felt that they got no help from the metropolitan territory. This had perhaps started with the British protection of the Lancashire cotton industry which had started protectionism in textiles. Sir John Cowperthwaite said that an example of lack of confidence was the British decision to impose tariffs on textiles. People in Hong Kong felt that they had been restricting their exports for years and had received no credit for it. Other examples were the Common Market and sterling devaluation. Mr. Holmes said there was a feeling that the special relationship between Hong Kong and Britain did not mean that Hong Kong received any special treatment from Britain.
26. Sir David Trench said that as against all this there were things on the other side, for instance, the presence of the garrison was appreciated and the events of 1967 had brought this home.
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