EL
The names of vessels would have to be found and the innwerable small items making up the total of £300,000 would require to be identified out of the det ils included in the relevant Bills
of Lading. Oven then, the "consignee's receipt" would not be conclusive; it would offer no proof regarding the ultime te disposal of the partic.lur items and it would be impossible to trace them now. On the question of shipment generally, the EC War Office experience has been that there have been remarkably few losses on Hong Kong shipments and the sasunction must be that all Civil Affairs suplice consigned to ong long would in fact have arrived in the Colony.
In all the circumstances, it is suggested that an account on the lines of Appendix I can be justified without further investigation. As regards Appendix II we feel, as doubtless you do too, that it would be unsound accounting to introduce the item of £528,000 (2(a)(v)), which really has no relevance to this particular question, in order to produce a more favourable result.
The detailed War Office list of stores is enclosed for
your information.
I am copying to Fairolough.
096 100 1 AYYENSO » BONE130
Yours sincerely,
(SGD.) O. H. WAGSTAN