D
Brimal
RECEIVED
26 JUL 1932
COL.OFFICE
Treasury Chambers,
83
Whitehall, S.W.
July 23rd, 1932.
Dear Shuckburgh,
At the meeting of the Imperial Shipping
Committee yesterday there was a further long discussion
about Hong Kong harbour, the upshot of which was that
the Committee were disposed to recommend that the harbour
should be dredged to a depth of 36 feet.
The Admiralty
said that they favoured a deepening to 36 feet and they
themselves contemplated dredging to the north of the
harbour to a cost of something like £40,000, which might
be combined with the contract for the commercial harbour.
But what influenced the Committee I think mainly was that
the additional cost of going to 36 feet instead of 34 feet
seemed to be only £20,000, and they did not think it worth
while to boggle at this. On the other hand they were
strongly against any increased charge to shipping for
the benefit of the few boats which required such a depth.
Personally I was not very much impressed by Mackie's
evidence and it seemed to me that the main benefit of
the improvement would go to the Godown Company, who built
their new pier in comparatively shallow water despite the