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Reference.
HK K430
fril
Mr Quantri
INDSK
MP'S LETTER: HONG KONG: MRS C V PENHEAROW
1. At folio 22 is a letter from Viscount Cranborne MP enclosing one from Mrs Penhearow, the widow of a Hong Kong Government servant.
2.
Mrs Penhearow's complaint is that, as a result of delays in the payment of moneys due to her from the Treasury and the Inland Revenue Department and the devaluation of the Hong Kong dollar, she lost some £300.
see 38
3. Mr So of the Civil Service Branch has commented on the case in his letter of 7 September which is at folio 32. The substance of Mr So's comment is that there were no undue delays in the Departments' processing Mrs Penhearow's money and that the Commissioner of Inland Revenue has in any case now discovered that she was entitled to more money which was handed over to her representative on 31 August. Since this was more than she claimed she had, Mr So thinks she should be happy.
4.
I
Whether the delays were undue is a subjective opinion. do however feel that Mrs Penhearow deserves a more sympathetic hearing than she has got and I would certainly not expect her to be happy because the Inland Revenue have decided after six months that they owe her more money she has lost both the interest on it and the reduced sterling value.
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5. I do not recommend that we should submit a draft reply to Mr Blaker on the basis of Mr So's letter. I recommend that we should ask Hong Kong to reconsider their decision on the basis of paying her what the money was worth in sterling on the day it became due to her, i.e. the day her husband died. agree, I will write to Mr So accordingly.
If you
CODE 18-77
BU. 27.D.
Wheth ✓ helt sut.
PA 13.0
11 September 1979
Ten
pp
P J Williamson
Hong Kong and General Department
I agree: it seems to me that the delay in paying the outstanding salary was not excessive. Nonetheless, this Pentearow did lose out by the delay, and in her particular circumstances I would have thought that the H.K. Government could offer an ex gratia award without setting awkward precedent. In the
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