inconvenience to the
colony of a
Naval yard existing in the middle
of the town
from the extension to
the yard then contemplated, & the
large scheme of extension, estimated to cost £1,275,500,
was
then decided.
Considerable progress
has
been made with the scheme
The annexed form Major Pilkington shows that the
Dock enclosed plan will
probably be
available for
the end of
next
year.
6. It is worth noting
that in a private letter to Lord Selborne went rather further
than in his despatch, saying that the colony would be prepared to
pay the whole cost of a new
Naval Yard at
Quarry Bay, & that Lord
Selborne accordingly did not like to give
an absolute negative to the proposal, but decided instead to make the offer in the enclosed letter.
I think we should at once decline this offer with thanks, on
the ground that the expenditure which would be involved, is more than Hongkong
can bear having regard to the advantage which the Colony would
receive from the scheme.
It is of course impossible to
give any exact estimate of the
cost, but the following points have to
be borne in mind; -
(1) Judging from past experience
the date at which a new Naval
Yard fully equipped with dock, &c, would
be ready, if approved,
would be something
like 10 years from now, possibly more, & the Admiralty could not afford meanwhile, to stop any of the
existing works, since, if they
were stopped they would be
much needed.
(2) Therefore there would be no saving
of expenditure.
(3) The colony would have to bear the total cost of fully equipping
a new Naval Yard
with dock, &c.,
the cost of
which, apart from cost of site, could hardly be less than £2,088,880
might be considerably more, this would involve for interest &
annual charge: sinking fund, &c.
of at least
about 4% of
the present revenue of Hongkong;
In return for this large outlay, the
Colony would receive
only