4
Revenue.
over the last three years have been as follows:-
Expenditure.
Deficit.
$
#
1937
1938
1939
428183
581,960
153,777
491968
597,968
106,000
427100
827741
400,641
7/38 this file
See (12) on
9 (1)m the
Government grants in 1937 amounted to
$91,000. No separate figures are shown in the 1938
estimates for the 1938 grants, but they certainly totalled more than the 1937 grants; and provision was
made in the 1939 estimates for a grant of $121,000.
The decrease in revenue is partly due to the falling
off in charitable donations which have been largely
diverted to war charities in China.
When the Hong Kong Government agreed to
wipe out the 1937 deficit by accepting it as a
charge upon the Colony's funds in 1938 they stipulated
certain conditions which would give the Government
a measure of control over the hospitals'administration
commensurate with the increasing assistance which
they foresaw would have to be given to the hospitals
in the future. These conditions are set out in the
Governor's despatch at (1) on this file, and that the
Government realised the full measure of responsibility
it was shouldering is evident from paragraph 11
of the despatch at (12) on 53556/38, in which the Governor wrote that"if that scheme (i. e. for the reorganisation of the hospitals) is accepted it is
inevitable that a large increase in the regular
annual grant will be needed for an indefinite time
to come, both in order to meet the deficit on the
present basis and to pay for the improvements in the
quality or the service of these hospitals which is
expected/