3. There is however a similar Hong Kong
Government claim, which is not referred
to in Boughey's letter, for stores supplied
to the Government of Burma. I enclose
a copy of the relevant statement which we
received from Hong Kong. The amount involved
(£6,575) is not large, but nevertheless
it is very desirable that whatever may be
the ultimate decision as regards the
cost of stores in process of manufacture,
there should be no unnecessary delay in
settlement for stores which were actually
shipped from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong
Government submitted this claim to the
Government of Burma who in reply stated that
the matter was being referred to "the paying
authority", but apparently no payment has in
fact been received. I do not know whether
in accordance with any financial settlement
between H. M. G. and the Goverment of Burma,
responsibility for meeting this claim should
now rest upon H. M.G.
;"B"
4. I need hardly stress how essential it
is that claims in this category (category "A)
should be met, especially if it is ultimately decided that claims falling under categories B
and C cannot be met. As you are aware the firms
feel very strongly on the question of all these
claims and our position is by no means an
easy one. We are thus very anxious that
there should be no avoidable delay in
settlement
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