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that there should be a condition providing
for a review of the whole agreement after
five years if the recurrent costs
(mainly pay and allowances) of the garrison
had by that time increased by more than
50% over the April 1971 costs. The
figure of 50% is chosen for this purpose
because it reflects the same percentage
increase as is provided for under the
Governor's proposals (ię from £2 million
to £3 million) in the contribution to the
operating costs of the garrison over the
same period (see column 4 of paragraph
9 (a) above). Paragraph 8 of the attached
draft Memorandum accordingly contains a
recommendation by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Secretary that with the
addition of the above condition the Defence
and Overseas Policy Committee should approve
the adoption of the Governor's proposals.
14. The negotiation of an agreement, even
on these terms, would not be easy and their
by Hong Kong
Ʌ
acceptance would by no means be a foregone
conclusion. It is possible that even if
they received the support of the Unofficial
Members of the Executive Council, the
proposals might fail to obtain the support of
the Unofficial Members of the Legislative
Council; in this event the Executive
Council members might be tempted to withdraw
their own support. In either case it
would become necessary to decide whether a
contribution should be imposed.
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/15.
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