60
and able
Co
stand
of Sant Gery
without real
lors.
بر
S. Caine
4.9
Mr. Carstairs points out that when the
levy was originally imposed at the beginning of this
year it was estimated that there would be a deficit
of something approaching $3,000,000 on the year's
working, and that this estimate has now been revised
to a figure of rather less than a million. He
suggests that there may be grounds for regarding the
preliminary estimate for 1937 as revealed in this
despatch as similarly pessimistic. If there are
indeed solid grounds for holding that without any
further drastic measures, Hong Kong ought to be in a
position to balance its budget in two or three years,
and that meanwhile any deficits which may have to be
faced will be such as not to make undue inroads upon
agree
surplus balances, I should retaliate that there is
no emergency sufficient to justify the continuance of
the salary levy.
That is not a matter on which I am in a
position to offer any opinion. But on the basis of
the figures given by the Governor the situation at
the end of 1937 will be that surplus balances will
have been reduced in a single year by approximately
33 per cent. to a figure which represents just about
three
Page 60Page 61