Page 192.
(216)
(216)
3. If however the W. D. seek better terms than these (such as reprovisioning plus compensation or building beyond the strict needs of reprovisioning or compensation based on current land values) and if this Government has to concede such terms in spite of the principle enunciated in paragraph 5 of my telegram No. 262, then this Government would expect to offset payments due in respect of such concessions against payments made for the two additional units, because it is our contention that the War Department have no absolute title to any of the land in question.
4. You may feel that in these circumstances it will only hinder the provision of the units unnecessarily if we insist on the condition at this stage, and if this is so I would agree to its withdrawal provided that in any subsequent land negotiations I can be assured of your strongest support in resisting claims for compensation by W.D. in contravention of the principle stated in paragraph 5 of my telegram No. 262.
5. I prefer not to comment upon the valuation of three million pounds referred to in your paragraph three, partly because the present value of this land is a complicated matter and partly because the value is not relevant to the issue as set out in paragraph 2 above. For the same reason I make no comment upon either the justice or the amount of the claim attributed in your paragraph 4 to the Admiralty, except to say that it will be our intention to deal with the Admiralty lands on a strict reprovisioning basis. I entirely agree that the Admiralty lands should be left out of the present deliberations and that if we must consider any land we should consider only W. D. lot 5. I would however reiterate my anxiety that we should not be committed to detailed negotiations now about the surrender of the lot and that consideration should be focussed on the following principles;
(a)
the earliest possible provision of two extra units by H. M. G;
Elm
(b)
the payment of a temporary additional contribution by this Government;
(c)
Distribution:
the relation of the normal contribution of 16 million dollars to the long-term garrison.
Treasury
T. S. Automatic
Mr. Carstairs
Mr. Campbell
Mr. Fairclough
Mr. Wallace
Mr. Ashton
Ministry of Defence
Admiralty
War Office
品
Mr. I. de L. Radice
Mr. D. E. Locke
Mr. P.D. Nairne
Mr. H. W. Browne
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