24
is awaiting the advice of the Ministry of Civil Aviation on certain aspects of the scheme. On receipt of this advice he should be in a position to decide whether or not to proceed with the Scheme. The comments of the Ministry of Civil Aviation will we hope be with the Governor by about the end of this month but of course further correspondence may be necessary before a decision in principle can be taken to proceed and a rough estimate of the cost involved prepared. It seems very doubtful, therefore, whether we are in any better position now than we were this time last year. In our forecast estimates we had allowed a sum of £500,000 to be expended during 1952-53 but of course on the strength of the information available at present we could not very well press you to include this sum in the draft estimates. Whether or not we shall be in any better position to decide what provision is required for next year before the estimate finally closes in the middle of January is at the moment somewhat doubtful. What we would suggest, therefore, is that the token provision of £10 should be repeated but that this should be subject to review in the light of the information then available before the estimate finally closes in January.
If you agree to us following this course, and if we find that we can do no better than repeat the token of £10 then we shɔuld have to reserve the right to come to you again during the course of the year for permission to submit a supplementary estimate to cover likely expenditure before 31st March 1953 should the Governor at a later stage decide to proceed with the plan and should work actually commence well before the end of the year. This is, however, a matter which must be left over for later consideration but I mention the point in order to reserve our position with you.
As regards the King Edward VII Scholarships at Hong Kong University the usual provision of £300 will be required and this sum is being inserted in the draft estimate.
Yours sincerely
(0. Bryant)