48
52802/28 No.18)
(a)
(6)
(C)
(d)
#2,367,584. and $2,645,566. respectively. In a
confidential despatch of 1st November details are
given of how these figures were arrived at.
The Treasury on the advice of the War
Office have now declined to consent to overturning
the present system (20% of revenue) in favour of
the new proposal (12% of rateable value). The
Can bic War Office views e summarised wadar dhe as
faklevieschke eachs:
follows.
The existing system is substantially that
which was proposed by the Eastern Colonies
themselves, and adopted in 1895 on the
recommendation of the Haliburton Committee.
It has not been shown that it fails to answer
the original purpose of graduating the
Colonies' payments towards their general
defence as part of the Empire, according to
their capaci ty to pay.
It has worked for 35 years, and few
points for controversy have raised any difficulty
between Hong Kong and the War Office for many
years past. Only in the comparative minor matter
of making estimating easy, would it appear that
the proposed alternative system would be an
improvement, so far as the War Office is concerned.
The Hong Kong Rating Ordinance leaves
open for decision from time to time by the Hong
Kong Government, both the area of valuation and the
mi ni múm of rateabili ty; further, the new
proposal would deprive the Colonial authorities of
almost all financial interest in maintaining the
rates.
The comparison of the amount of contribution
under