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2.
to an agreed maximum total cost. The Military Authorities
would not require any further compensation in respect of
the land vacated and the transaction would thus be on an
entirely different basis from the transfers of lands dealt
with in the Military Lands Account, which would not enter
into the matter at all.
3.
From the point of view of the Colonial
Government the scheme has manifest advantages: a large
area would become available for commercial development,
town-replanning and the erection of public buildings.
Among such public buildings is the much-needed new
volunteer headquarters; the Military Authorities were
formerly disposed to consent to erection of this on part
of Murray Parade Ground, which is within the War
Department area now proposed for surrender, but they
later objected on the grounds that it would mean the
sacrifice of some of the recreational facilities at
present enjoyed by the infantry battalion quartered in the
centre of the city.
4.
On the other hand, the scheme also attracts
the Military Authorities because they are anxious to remove
the battalion from the centre of the town and to take the
opportunity of building more up-to-date barracks. It has
already been before the War Office and I am informed by
the General Officer Commanding the British Troops in China,
China Command, that the Army Council has signified its
agreement to it in principle and might consider also the gradual transfer on a similar basis later of other military establishments in the centre of the town in addition to the
establishments of the infantry battalion. My Executive Council has also expressed its unanimous agreement in principle with the scheme and advised that detailed
negotiations for the transfer should proceed.