653
*
vote of $100 has been placed on the Estimates yearly
until this year, this $100 being taken to represent
the excess purchase over issue in any one year.
Since the establishment of this
Account, it has been found impracticable to keep the
amount of excess purchase of Stores uniform; this is
mainly due to the great distance of Hongkong from
England, and the length of time which transpires between
the date of an order and the date of receipt of the
Stores ordered.
3
5.
Moreover, it often happens that the
Crown Agents' Accounts for some particular Stores pass
through the books of the Treasury and the Public Works
Department towards the close of one year, while the
goods themselves do not arrive in the Colony until the
early part of the following year.
6.
In any year when the value of sales
and transfers of Stores exceeds the value of purchases,"
then the credit balance for that year's working has to
be reckoned as an item of revenue and as such is liable
to Military Contribution of 20%, now that the Military
Contribution has been raised to this percentage.
7.
On the year's working in 1898 there
was a debit balance of $33,000.38. In 1899 a credit
balance of $20,086.97. In 1900 a debit balance of $57,791.89. Thus in 1899 a contribution of 173% on the
credit balance, mounting to about $8,509 was paid by
the Colonial Goverment to the Military Authorities.
8.