5
No.3477/15.
No. I referred to funds like that
Set aside for
establishment
University in
the
7 a in Ceylon. Hal
Mr.Cowell,
The comparison which you make with funds
in other Colonies refers, I suppose, to
such funds as "Renewals" and "Depreciation",
and it is true that in such cases lump sums
are appropriated out of general revenue to
the funds and are then spent in accordance
with the rules laid down to govern the funds.
There is, however, a great difference between
funds such as these and a fund such as that
now proposed for the Hong Kong scheme which
involves the execution of a large scheme of
public works to be financed by realising some
of the capital assets of the Colony. A truer
comparison, though not an exact one, would be
to the proposals put up by certain East African
Colonies to account through special funds for
special taxes or cesses and expenditure there-
from (T.T. X.29757/30, X.30231/31, Nyasaland
5303/33). but in all these cases the Secretary
of State held that the receipts should go to
general revenue and that the expenditure should
be accounted for as such in the Colony accounts.
2. I have discussed the matter again with
Mr.Taylor, the Treasurer, and we are agreed that
the Governor's proposal should not be accepted.
As it stands the proposal is that revenue
receipts from the sale of lands should pass to
a special fund instead of to revenue and that
the expenditure on the scheme should be met
from the fund and authorised by Resolution
in Legislative Council, and this involves two
breaches of the ordinary rules of Colonial
Accounting, viz: the diversion of true revenue
to