13/4
Dited D
Ra
I week
Er
10/1
Regibus
R&R.
Mr Fry Finance Dept, ODM
Mrs Gregory
HKGD
LANT
RF (50
NFX1
REF. 52
(copy to each)
HKA 364/1
RECEIVED IN REGISVAY NÓ. 51
-
- 9 NOV 1978
DESK OFFICER
PA
STRY
51
Telephoned
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persed
to teach) 15
Me Pennock but I bend
INDEX
MAINTENANCE OF GOVERNMENT HOUSES.
идает
1. I have no comment on paragraph 1 of Mrs Gregory's draft letter to Governors.
PX
2. On paragraph 2 I think ODM may wish to recast the first three sentences and at the same time making it clear that there is no problem about money as such, both for capital and recurrent expenditure on Government Houses. I think the rest of the paragraph might be recast as follows:
"Accepting that the' source of funds will be the aid
programme we 'need to consider how they can best be
A
handled. We see no way of keeping this exercise quite 3 separate from your territory's estimates. We think it
would be improper to spend money privately, as it were,
on a local building which is the property of your
territory and do not wish to start a new concealed
subsidy providing solely for the needs of Governors.
But this, of course, brings us up against the familiar
charge that we are improving the Governor's living
conditions in preference to those of the poor.
We suggest that this accusation can be answered on
two
counts:-
a) the annual aid exercise would be done first and
an agreed figure of grant in aid calculated which
would provide for the territory's reasonable needs
on the customary formula. This would ignore the.
need for any extra expenditure on Government House.
Only when the estimates had been agreed and the
amount of grant in aid calculated would we want you
to Puggest that a new item for Government house be
Ainserted