PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
C.O. 882
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
154
Annexure
LIST OF ITEMS ON ACCOUNT OF WHICH REVENUE SHOULD BE EXEMPTED FROM MILITARY
3,000 Analyses Fees.
CONTRIBUTION.
1.200 Evening Continuation Class Fees, Government Notification 635 of 1906 3,000 Examination of Masters, Mates and Engineers, Ordinance 10 of 1899 6.820 Imperial Postal Allowance
750 Maintenance of Gap Rock Lighthouse Contribution
Imperial Government
37,000 Medical Treatment, Government Notification 144 of 1903
900 Police and other Stores Sales.
4,500 Police Service Loans, Ordinance 11 of 1900
17,000 Postal Transit Charges Refund
5,500 Prison Industries Sales
2,000 Prisoners' Subsistence Recovery.
18,000 Public Schools Fees, Government Notification 286 of 1901
31,500 Queen's College Fees, Government Notification 851 of 1904.
from Chinese
1,700 Sick Stoppages from Police Force, Government Notification 142 and 143
of 1903
1.400 Condemned Stores, &c
200 Interest on Government House Furniture
1.000 Other Miscellaneous Receipts, possibly some items analogous to above 38,000 Loss on Redemption of Subsidiary Coins
*60,000 Postal Agencies' Receipts, except surplus of Revenue over Expenditure
38,000 Refunds of Revenue
$269.470
38636
SIR,
(No. 313.)
No. 169
HONG KONG.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
Downing Street, 17 December, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 309, of the 28th of October,† transmitting a copy of a memorandum which you have pre pared on the question of the military contribution of Hong Kong.
2 I have read your memorandum with great interest and I appreciate the careful consideration which you have given to this difficult matter.
3. Should the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury agree to my proposal for the appointment of an Inter-departmental Committee to consider this question. your views will receive the most careful consideration.
I have, &c..
CREWE
155
the finances of the Straits Settlements of the restrictions in the opium traffic, desire me to express their regret at the delay which has occurred in replying thereto.
I am now to transmit to be laid before Secretary the Earl of Crewe copy of a letter dated the 8th October last from the War Department, to whom the letter under reply was referred, as regards the questions raised as to the assessment of the Colony's revenue for military contribution, and I am to state that if my Lords are furnished with further particulars as to the effect on the accounts of the proposed change from the system of opium and spirit farms to a system of Government production, they will be willing to consider an arrangement whereby military contri- bution will be assessed only on the net revenue from opium and spirits.
With regard to the other matters dealt with in the War Office letter, I am to say that my Lords are in entire agreement with the views of the Army Council as therein expressed, and as regards the proposal to appoint a Committee to reconsider de novo the whole question of the military contributions paid by the Eastern Colonies, they can find no ground for such a course being adopted at the present time. If there is a falling off in the revenues of the Straits Settlements so also there is a diminution of the military contribution, though the cost of the garrison remains the same, and the deficiency has to be made good by the taxpayer of the United Kingdom. For the year 1910-11, the contribution of the Colony is estimated at £175,000 as against £205,000 in the current year.
It seems to be too often forgotten in the discussions on this subject that the system of assessment for military contribution, which was adopted after exhaustive discussion, was designed with a view to obviating periodical revisions and in order to provide an automatic method of securing a contribution from the Colonies to cover the estimated cost of the garrisons. As has been pointed out on previous occasions this result has not been secured, and if circumstances arise which necessitate assist- ance being given to these Colonies from Imperial funds, such a question should, in their Lordship's opinion, be treated on its merits and not approached by means of indirect expedients for undermining the basis on which the military contribution has been settled.
Whatever relief it may be found necessary to give in other ways, my Lords attach great importance to the maintenance intact of the principle on which the military contribution is based, more especially at the present time, when the naval and military expenditure of this country is being so fargely augmented to provide for the security of all parts of the Empire. It is therefore with regret that my Lords observe from the correspondence enclosed with Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 18th October last (32524/09),* that the Secretary of State for the Colonies has seen fit to sanction an arrangement whereby some portion of the receipts of the Straits Settle- ments Government which formed part of the general revenue on which the defence contribution of the Colony is levied has been excluded from the Colonial Estimates. As this is a matter which affects the provision to be made from Imperial funds for Army expenditure my Lords consider that their assent was required to such action, in which, for the reasons indicated above, they are unable to concur. Nor, for the same reasons, could they acquiesce in a similar method of treatment being applied to other heads of receipts, as would appear from the correspondence to be contemplated.
I am, &c.,
G. H. MURRAY.
7307
SIR,
No. 170.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
TREASURY to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received March 11, 1910.)
[Answered by No. 174.]
Treasury Chambers, 11th March, 1910 THE Lords Commissiouers of His Majesty's Treasury, having had under cou sideration your letter of the 26th August last (24088/09),‡ respecting the effect on
† No. 168.
‡ No. 159.
• Estimate.
SIR,
Enclosure in No. 170.
War Office, London, S. W., 8th October, 1909.
I AM commanded by the Army Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 8th September, in which the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury ask for the Council's remarks on a letter from the Colonial Office, dated 26th August, on the subject of the military contribution paid by the Eastern Colonies.
2. The Council are not fully cognisant of the details of the opium policy, but if, as they understand, the Government factory to be established in the Straits Settlements to prepare opium for consumption will be a productive undertaking on
• No. 165.