}
Hongkong.
48587
48570
02
sir.
180
189
Goverment House, 13 MW 7
Hongkong, 6th. February, 1903.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of your Despatch No.434 of the 19th. December last on the
subject of the Estimates for 1903 and the proposal to raise
a Lean to defray the cast of certain Public Works.
2.
I agree with you that it is not necessary
at the present time to resort to a Lean, and I would remind
you that in the 5th. paragraph of my Despatch No. 466 of the
24th. of October last I suggested that if a Loan were authorised
arrangements should be made by which money might be borrowed
as required instead of raising the whole Loan at once. It was
net my intention that borrowing should be resorted to se long
as the necessary funds were forthcoming from Revenue. At the
same time I did not consider that I was at liberty to take
the probable balance at the end of a year into account in
order to balance the budget fer the succeeding year, and I
felt therefore bound te indicate how the deficit an the 1903
Estimates could be met without taking the estimated balance
on the year 1902 into account.
3.
You question the propriety of describing
the works which I proposed should be charged to the Loan when
it became necessary,
as remunerative er productive. But I
would
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
8cc...
8cc..
20.