ア
Mr. Caine.
Mr Paskin.
•
55 Of
No.11
Here we have a request from
the Foreign Office for a transfer of £250,000 from Hong Kong funds in settlement, on account, of expenditure incurred in Free China from September quarter 1942 to
June quarter 1943.
Payments already made
in China are :
September quarter 1942 January and March
quarters 1943
3
£ 78,769.14. 9
£116,529. 4.10 £195,298.19. 7
and we are asked to send a further sum towards June quarter expenditure of
£ 54,701. 0. 5 £250,000. 0. 0
It is highly probable that expenditure during June and immediately following quarters will be heavy on account of initial pension and gratuity payments to Government employees, as H. M. Ambassador at 105/55083/43 states that these payments are being held up pending settlement of the question of a special diplomatic exchange rate. Relief is being paid pro.tem. and will of course be recoverable at the time of final settlement. We seem to have reached the point where we must consult the Treasury and obtain their assistance in meeting these heavy calls due to the Hong Kong Government's commitments.
Income is confined to the interest obtained from the Hong Kong Exchange Fund and accumulated since 26th December, 1941 at the rate of £400,000 per annum. The balance in hand on 20th July 1943 was £189,000 approximately.
Expenditure to which we are committed amounts to approximately £800,000 per annum and is itemised generally as follows:
Claims