46
9. In answer to the Governor's
suggestion that the Air Ministry should
contribute before the end of the financial
year a first payment of H.K. $100,000 towards
the cost of the extension, the Air Ministry
replied on the 24th of March, 1936, that they
were still considering the general question
of the terms on which land in Hong Kong
should be made available for R.A.F. purposes
and were reviewing their whole policy in
Hong Kong. They could not, in these
circumstances, pay the suggested contribution
to the Hong Kong Government in that financial
year.
10. It may be suggested that the Hong
Kong Government had proceeded hastily in
beginning work before obtaining an explicit
assurance from the Air Ministry that the
appropriate share of the cost would be
provided. In view, however, of the terms
on which the aerodrome had been constructed
and the unqualified advice of the R.A.F.
authority in the Colony, the Governor can
reasonably