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༢,

to a certain amount of delay in reaching decisions. The

control was, however, necessitated by the financial assistance

given by H.M.G. which is referred to in the financial

settlement and to the uncertainty whether the Colony was

ikely to need any further assistance. The "entre 1"

was in the main confined to questions of principle or to

-matters-involving heavy expenditure.

Subsequent to the financial

settlement referred to above there has been a change from "control"

+

to "consultation" which I am glad to see from your official despatch

was

of the 13th October you accepted as generous. In these circumstances

no doubt

any discursio

Gurpose

you will perhaps agree that there would be little bu

in discussing any

difficulties and delays which may have occurred in the past.comis tracadunie.

The speed with which the recent increases in the cost of living

allowances were approved are, I think, proof of our desire that

consultation should not involve any unnecessary delay. The

increases in the cost of living allowance were, of course, more than

a mere periodical review and constituted an important change in the

staff emoluments and reference Home was necessary, apart from any

question of "consultation", because of the possible repercussions on

employees of Service and other Departments of H.M.G. in Hong Kong; that was clearly quite moundable in the circumstances,

4.

On the matter of local loans we agree that the potentialities

of local investments can best be judged by those on the spot, but

there are questions of exchange control and other aspects of the

matter which inevitably present difficulties outside Hong Kong and

therefore necessitate consideration at this end. We have been considering

the question of further local borrowing referred to in para.9 of your telegram

2

No.173 and hope to let you have a reply in the near future.

The suggestion that Hong Kong should borrow from the Currency

Fund was not agreed to when it was considered in 1947

(see paragraph 4 of the Secretary of State's telegram No.1492

of the 17th September, 1947). We are however looking into the

To such borraang

question again to sea whether the objection#/still holds good

Sat

and will let you know the outcome as soon as possible.

Copy for Action (on 54126/4/49 - (Loans file)

(No.65 (54126/4/47

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