[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
83
19
SECRET.
294-C.
Printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence. March 1927.
COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEFENCE.
Copy No.
40
HONG KONG: DEFENCE OF.
(Previous C.I.D. Papers Nos. 617-B, 677-B, 119-C, 120-C, 146-C, 167-C, 181-C, 184-C, 185–C, 186–C, 234–C, 235–C, 240–C, 257–C, 263–C, 282-C and 286–C.)
ACQUISITION OF KAI TAK SITE FOR AN AERODROME.
NOTE BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
WITH reference to the Conclusion to Minute 4 of the 218th Meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence, held on the 25th November, 1926, I circulated herewith, for the consideration of the Committee, a Memorandum drawn up in the Colonial Office showing the present position regarding the Kai Tak Aerodrome at Hong Kong, and suggesting that definite recommendations should now be made as to the procedure for acquiring the land in question.
Colonial Office, March 17, 1927.
L. S. A.
Enclosure.
Memorandum by the Colonial Office.
1. In a despatch,* dated the 18th February, 1926, the Governor of Hong Kong, with the concurrence of the Hong Kong General Defence Committee, recommended that steps should be taken to acquire the Kai Tak reclamation area on Kowloon Bay as being the only site in the Colony suitable for an aerodrome. It was estimated that a sum of 1 million dollars would be sufficient to buy out the Company which was engaged in reclaiming this area and that the reclamation could be completed by the Government at a cost of 738,000 dollars. The total expenditure involved in the Governor's proposals was thus 1,738,000 dollars, or approximately £180,000.
2. This despatch received consideration by the Oversea Defence Committee and was finally submitted to the Committee of Imperial Defence on the 1st November, 1926, with a covering Memorandum (C.I.D. Paper No. 282-C) containing the following conclusions :-
"(i.) That, from the defence point of view, the acquisition of the Kai Tak reclamation area is desirable, and accordingly recommend that approval in principle should be given to the proposals on the subject made by the Governor of Hong Kong in his despatch, dated the 18th February, 1926, which were recommended in the Interim Report by the Joint Staffs (Appendix 1), and to which commendation was given by the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee at their 36th Meeting.
"(ii.) That as, in the opinion of the Foreign Office, the proposed aerodrome might be regarded as an infringement of the Washington Treaty, America and Japan should be approached with a view to discussing the general question of the
* Printed as Appendix II to C.I.D. Paper No. 282-C.
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