88
personally between representatives of the Colonial Office
and Air Ministry, and the Treasury were approached with a
proposal that the Imperial contribution should be £178,000
less three quarters of any sums accruing from the sale of
outlying portions of the site.
After full consideration this proposal was rejected
by the Treasury and it was only with considerable difficulty
that they were induced to agree to a contribution of £100,000.
Whilst the Air Council do not in any way dissent
from the conclusions come to by Mr. Dawson as
to what may
eventually be required in order to provide a really good
aerodrome with adequate scope for development for civil
purposes and for the permanent location of service units, they
are not in a position to urge the Treasury to reconsider the
contribution from Imperial funds on the ground that these
requirements are an immediate and pressing necessity.
Royal Air Force requirements for at any rate some years to
come will be met by the provision of a landing ground with
extemporised arrangements for the accommodation of such units
as may from time to time be temporarily stationed at Hong
Kong.
น
Indeed,
The Council are, of course, not in a position to
forecast what developments of civil aviation are likely to tak
place at Hong Kong in the near future as these developments
must be largely dependent upon the degree of encouragement
given by the Hong Kong Government. They feel, however,
constrained to point out that the cost of providing for such
developments on the scale contemplated in the report of the
Director of Public Works, which was forwarded with Sir Cecil
Clementi's despatch No. 226 of the 25th April 1928, and upon
which Mr. Dawson was instructed to report, would be very
considerable.
If, as the Council apprehend, there is little
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