Aft, on 55413/48
'Saving.
45 /
DUPLICATE
From the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Date
the Officer Administering the Government of HONG KONG
January, 1949. 2 FEB 1949
No.....
1.
129 Saving.
As you are aware, during the period of the Japanese occupation and during the period of the Military Administration, it was necessary for claims against the funds of the Far Eastern Colonial Governments to be dealt with by the Colonial Office. On the re-establishment of Civil Government however it was possible to trans it the amjority of such claims to the Government concerned for settlement direct with the claimant. Nevertheless there remained categories of claims with which the Colonial Office continued to deal mainly because other United Kingdom Government departments were concerned and such records as were available were in this country although owing to the incompleteness of the records considerable difficulty has been experienced in compiling the various claims. It has in fact only recently been found possible to complete the examination within the Colonial Office to an extent which would enable me to submit the claims to you. The claims in question will be dealt with in separate communications where this has not already been done but it is
convenient to summarize them in this savingram, and the opportunity has been taken of referring to certain other claims of which you are already
aware. The claims in question fall generally under
/ the