76
4 on 53514/36
para 59(13)
(13)
refund of a proportion of the cost of forming and
resuming as well as of the consolidated Crown rent,
should the site in question be vacated by the R.A. F.
before the expiry of 25 years. After some delay, the
Air Ministry, on 30.12.35, agreed to pay the costs of
forming and resuming, but reserved the question of the
payment of consolidated Crown rent. In the meantime
a complication has arisen through the proposal to extend
the Kai Tak aerodrome which was reported to the Secretary
of State in a despatch dated 9.12.35. This work, which
instance
was undertaken at the expense and on behalf of the R.A.F.
authorities, had been ambarked upon before any form of
undertaking had been obtained from the Air Ministry
that they would bear a share of the cost, although the
Hong Kong Government had commenced the work on this
understanding. On the grounds that the scheme of Imperial
defence expansion embarked upon in the spring of this
year involved a reconsideration of all aspects of R.A. F.
expansion in the Far East, the Air Ministry have delayed
action in this matter until now, in spite of repeated
appeals from Hong Kong. The Ministry have never denied
their liability; but now attempt to make payment
conditional upon acceptance by Hong Kong of an agreement
regarding terms of transfer in general which runs
counter to all the principles accepted here.
7.
In their letter of the 15th August, the Air request Ministry that land may be provided for R.A.F. purposes
free of charge, except for the cost of resumption and
indicate (paragraph 3) that they regard this as
equivalent to the terms granted to the War Office in
respect of land at Kowloon Tsai. The latter is, of
course,