{
ترا
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necessarily be incurred on the collective maintenance of
the present Agencies, other than that at Wei-hai-wei, on present lines without further concessions involving expense, the incidence of the remainder of the loss being left to the Secretary of State, the Colony, and the Communities concerned to adjust as may be agreed upon between them. But it must be distinctly understood that this concession is made as a provisional arrangement only, without preju- dice to the view as to liability expressed in the earlier
part of this letter.
The necessary provision should in Their Lordships' opinion fall on Post Office Votes, following the precedent of the Tientsin guarantee &c.
6.
Wei-hai-wei.
With regard to this Agency, and with reference to Mr. Antrobus's letter of the 29th March last (9291/09). I am to transmit herewith a copy of a letter which My Lords caused to be addressed to the War Office on the 5th May, and of the reply from that Department of the 12th June.
On the grounds stated therein My Lords concur in the Army Council's view and are prepared to treat the Agency in this British Dependency separately from the Agencies on Chinese soil. So long therefore as the expenses of that Agency exceed the revenue derived from it, the receipts may be excluded from the Hong Kong revenues for purposes of assessment of the military contribution, and if any actual loss be still incurred it may be made good to Hong Kong. Such loss should, in Their Lordships'
opinion