AIONAL
CHE
Your Reference. 54058/4/41.
Treasury Reference
S.49517/06.
TREASURY CHAMBERS, 97
GREAT GEORGE STREET,
53
LONDON, S.W.1.
23rd July, 1942.
38
31
Dear Taylor,
Thank you for your letter of 13th June concerning the reimbursement of the Australian authorities on account of Hong Kong evacuees.
When I suggested, in my letter of April 13th, a doubt as to whether, under the agreement by which His Majesty's Government accepted responsibility for the cost of the compulsory evacuation from Hong Kong of European women and children, the cost of maintaining those who, since the Japanese conquest, have become dependant on maintenance grants was a charge on United Kingdom and not on Hong Kong
(a) The agreement was funds, I had two points in mind. made on the understanding that the cost to His Majesty's Government would be set-off against contributions by Hong (b) It might be questioned Kong to the cost of the war. whether the agreement applied to those evacuees who did not, from the beginning, take advantage of the special arrangements for maintenance grants recoverable from breadwinners in Hong Kong.
But, in all the circumstances, we accept as reasonable what you propose in the final paragraph of your letter.
We should be glad to have more information about the administrative expenditure incurred in connection with the maintenance of the Far East Evacuees in the Dominions.
Will this be divided, and if so on what basis, between the various Governments where funds maintenance costs are charged?
Edwin Taylor, Esq.,
Colonial Office.
Yours sincerely,
WAR Handhe