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has recently arrived from Malaya says that the Malayan
bill is not likely to be lower than £50,000,000, but
that it might well be above that, and might even
amount to £100,000,000. For this particular item
therefore we are not yet in a position even to guess
at the figure within £50,000,000. And this is by no
means the only unpredictable burden which Malaya will
have to face. It will be some considerable time before
we are even in a position to guess at the size of the
bills for the demobilization of the local forces and
for assistance to the released internees. Both of
these bills will be very heavy. Then again, the
Malayan Governments are still engaged in negotiations
about the payments of arrears of pay to their local
Civil Servants during the period of the Japanese
occupation.
All that we can say about this, at present,
is that this will be another heavy bill for the
Malayan Governments to foot.
For these reasons I still think that it would be
premature to embark on discussions with the Treasury on
the subjects of free grants to the Malayan Union and
Singapore. I doubt even if the financial revenues which
we shall get from them when they send their draft
estimates for next year will provide us with a firm
enough basis on which to go to the Treasury.
#
On the other hand, I see no reason why the fact
that we are not yet in a position to build up anything
like a concrete case for Malaya, should stand in the
way of an approach to the Treasury in respect of any
other of the Far Eastern territories when we are in
a position to do so.
In his despatches at Nos. 38 and 51 on this file,
the Governor of Hong Kong has demonstrated clearly that
Hong Kong will need free grants from the Treasury,
though it is admitted that it is hardly yet possible
which
even to guess at the total amounts which will be
required.
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