80
سانيليا
PUBLIC RECORD.OFFICE
Reference :-
MC.O.537
دن
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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for its defence, and refused to take it over from
India until that condition was accepted.
It increased the Mauritius contribution from
about 33,000l. to 45,000l. a-year, making it about 36 per cent. of the estimated cost of its garrison, and about 10 per cent. of its revenue.
In the case of Hong Kong, which up to
that time had contributed nothing towards its defence, it imposed a contribution of 20,000%. a-year, or about 20 per cent, of the cost of its garrison, and 16 per cent. of its revenue. In both cases it was intimated that the eontri- bution would be subsequently increased,
Looking to the fact that the proportion of charge imposed in each of these cases differed, it seems evident that although the Government of that day had the principle laid down by the Committee of 1861 in view, it had regard in its application "to the local resources of each dependency, to its dangers from external attack, and to the general exigencies of the Empire."
It would probably be found impracticable to take any one colony and make the contribution found suitable to its conditious the standard for fixing the contributions of other dependencies. No hard or fast rule can be laid down applicable to all defended colonies, and each must be dealt with on its own merits.
The comparative statements of revenue and military expenditure in Hong Kong, and in the United Kingdom and other countries, contained in the memorandum of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, are based upon figures which omit items essential to a correct comparison,
The revenue of Hong Kong includes all its resources from both rates and taxes, and covers its total expenditure, general and local, but it
has been compared with only that part of the revenue of the United Kingdom which provides what may be called the Imperial expenditure, omitting entirely the local revenues derived from rates and other local taxes. At the same time the military expenditure incurred by Hong Kong has been largely underestimated.
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The following is the corrected data on which the comparative statements may be recast:-
During the five years ending 1888, the mili- tary expenditure of Hong Kong, including its expenditure (116,000l.) on defence works, and on local forces, amounted to an annual average of 43,7001.
During the same period its average annual revenue amounted to 235,8331. sterling, and its average population to about 184,000.
Taking the defence expenditure of the United Kingdom at 29,800,000l., and its Im- perial revenue at 86,800,000, as given in the Chancellor's memorandum, and adding to the latter 50,000,000l., the local revenues of the United Kingdom, after excluding loans and Government contributions, we get a total re-
venue of 136,800,0001.
The foregoing figures give a military expen- diture of 38. 8d. in the £ of revenue, or 18·10
per cent. for Hong Kong, instead of 1s. 10d. and 9 per cent., and 48. 9d. per head of population, instead of 1s. 10d.; while the proportions for the United Kingdom are 48. 4d. per £ of revenue, or 21.78 per cent., instead of 78. in the £ or 35 per cent., as given in the Chancellor's memorandum. During the past
five years, therefore, an addition of about 7,000l. to the Hong Kong military expen- diture would have raised its proportion of expenditure to revenue to that which exists at present in the United Kingdom for both naval and military services. Its actual proportion of military expenditure to revenue has been about the same as that of Brazil and Portugal, and considerably in excess of that of Belgium.
If the charge for the war debts of the United Kingdom, chiefly incurred nearly a century ago, be added to its current defence expenditure, it would augment its proportion of expenditure to revenue to 78., but it would seem doubtful whether that standard could be made applicable
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