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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
the new house at Magazine Gap. In view of the distance of the new site from town, I would suggest that, when the Governor moves into his new residence, the Governor's Book may be deposited at the Colonial Secretary's Office for the convenience of the public. The matter may seem trivial, but in reality it means a great deal to the large number of people who call to sign the Governor's Book as a mark of respect to the head of the Govern- ment. I may mention that my Unofficial colleagues support my suggestion.
some
con-
The Honourable Senior Unofficial Member, on behalf of his Unofficial colleagues, has expressed satisfaction that cessions in the method of computation for Military Contribution has been secured from the War Office through the Secretary of State for the Colonies. An examination of Appendix II on page 107 of the draft Estimates has revealed that the total saving to the Colony by these concessions is only $119,105, an amount by no means substantial, when we consider that the Colony has still to pay as much as nearly $5,000,000 in 1934. There are apparently some other savings, according to certain remarks of the Hon. Colonial Secretary; but the amount is not disclosed. Mr. Tratman, at the last meeting of this Council, said that "in addition to relieving the annual expenditure the concessions should also release a certain. portion of the liability under this head which appears as a Suspense Account in the financial statement." A reference to the financial statement on page 109 of the draft Estimates shows that the sum of $976,782.27 is entered against Suspense Account. It is, I submit, a matter of importance to the public to know how much of this sum represents concessions from the War Office in respect of Military Contribution.
I now deal with a subject which the Honourable Senior Unofficial Member
Member has delegated to me. The Hon. Colonial Secretary in his Budget speech pointed out what he considered to be drawbacks in the allocation of Cadet Officers and clerical officers to individual departments instead of showing them under what he called General Staff, and he proceeded to give an illustration of the obfuscation to which the system was said to have given rise. I respectfully submit that the illustration is not sufficient reason for a reversion to the unsatisfactory system of lumping salaries under 'Omnibus' heads which, when in vogue a few years ago, gave the public no idea of what any one department spent. Changes in the personnel of the administration are bound to occur after the preparation of the annual Estimates, but it should not be very difficult for the accounts. to be adjusted at the Treasury. The views of the Unofficial members have always been that the estimates of each department should embody as far as possible all expenses-personal emoluments, other charges and special expenditure-chargeable to that department, and they are glad that these views have the support of the Government Auditor who commented on the subject in his report for the year 1930.
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