11
(15)
land sales should similarly be excluded.
have not been able to trace in the printed
correspondence or in the report of the
I
Haliburton Committee any specific confirmation of this, but it is probable that if Hong Kong
had invested their land sale revenue in a
separate fund, no difficulty would have been
raised about exemption the income of that
fund.
In this as in other matters, Hong Kong
adequately have not been welly alive to their own interests.
I attach a statement of the income of
the Hong Kong Government from land sales for
1895 onwards.
Since 1895, that is when the
Haliburton Committee reported, the total income
from land sales has been approximately $24,540,000. This considerably exceeds the total
surplus of assets over liabilities of the Hong Kong Government, which was estimated at $5,425,000
at the 31st December, 1930. It can be contended,
therefore, that the whole of Hong Kong's present
been
investments have met made out of proceeds of
land sales, and that the whole of the income
from such investments, either by way of interest
or capital appreciation, should be exempted in
the calculation of military contribution.
This seems almost too good to be true, but we
can at least put the suggestion to the War
Office and see how they react to it.
I submit for consideration a draft
to the War Office. A copy should be sent to
the Treasury.
I think we might now
I submit a
sp.
new accou
H.K.
accorating system
want is
wit's free
eply to 8
cring
Re
force S. Camé
2·11-3/