6
200
Leaving out of consideration one or two petty items, the total of the sumis which I request may be exempted from assessment to military contribution, for the reason that they are exempted in the Straits Settlements, is as follows
Municipal and Rural Board revenues
Cost of collection of liquor duties
Educational fees
Medical treatment
1,894,100
57,704
86,600
30.200
$2,068,604
201
paragraph 5 of my Confidential despatch of the 8th of June last.* that the military contribution should be fixed at $1,000,000 per annum.
2. I think that it would serve to allay irritation upon this subject if the publication of my despatch and of the reply which you may see fit to make to it is sanctioned.
36469
No. 201
I have, &c.,
F. D. LUGARD,
Governor, &c.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PLEC.O. 882
The corresponding sum which in the Straits Settlements is exempt from assessment
is about $4,160,000, or, in terms of Hong Kong currency, $4,550,000.
7 If my request is approved, the military contribution payable by this Colony It will still stand at will be reduced in respect of the current year by $413.721 $929,056, which is higher by $134,340 than the amount paid for 1901, the year in which the 20 per centum system was introduced.
X
In submitting this request to you, I venture once more to make my own personal view clear, though I regret that it does not in this matter coincide with that of the Unofficial Members and of the community as voiced by the local Press (probably because of the inequalities of assessment as regards different colonies which I have pointed out,.
My personal view, which I have not hesitated to express in the Legislative Council and in private conversation with the Unofficial Members, is that at a time when the burden of armaments is weighing so heavily upon every portion of the British Empire, this Colony does not contribute an undue proportion of its revenue towards defence At the same time. I venture to think that the neighbouring Colonies of Ceylon, Straits Settlements, and Federated Malay States should pay a like proportion similarly assessed in every particular, so that the grievance of being more heavily burdened than their far more prosperous neighbours may be removed from the taxpayers of this Colony. If. in these circumstances, the contributions of the Colonies named were raised to a parity with that of the existing contribution from Hong Kong by the inclusion of all those items in their assessable revenue to which I have called attention, the extra sum thus raised for defence might (I venture to suggest) be devoted to a contribution towards the Navy in accordance with the If this were done and proposals made at the recent Imperial Conference.
Hong Kong saw itself taxed for defence on absolutely equal terms with other colonies in the East I do not believe that the taxpayers who have always prided themselves on their loyalty to the Empire would feel any longer that they had a rankling grievance.
36176
No. 200.
HONG KONG,
I have, &c.,
F. D. LUGARD,
Governor, &c.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received November 9, 1911.)
(Confidential.)
[Answered by No. 203.]
SIR
I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have been requested in Council to publish the correspondence which has passed between this Government and yourself in connection with the request of the Unofficial Members transmitted to you in
Government House, Hong Kong, 4th October, 1911.
SIR,
HONG KONG.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received November 11. 1911.)
(Confidential.)
Government House, Hong Kong, 12th October, 1911. WITH reference to Lord Crewe's despatch, No. 116, of the 29th April, 1910, and in continuation of my Confidential despatch of the 3rd August, 1911,† I have the honour to forward, for your consideration, the enclosed copy of a letter from the local Auditor, dated the 10th instant.
(No. 87.)
SIR,
I have, &c.,
F. D. LUGARD,
Governor, &c.
Enclosure in No. 201.
Audit Office, Hong Kong, 10th October, 1911. I HAVE the honour to draw your attention to two more instances where I think the new procedure, adopted by the Government during the current financial year, of crediting expenditure heads with monies directly derived from expenditure heads might be extended.
2. The first case I would bring to your notice is that of the fees collected by Hon. Principal Civil Medical Officer for medical treatment; these fees average between $3,000 and $3,500 per mensem, and, therefore, under the present system of accounting, pay military contribution to the extent of $800 to $700 per mensem, or, Bay, roughly, $8,000 per annum. These fees are derived principally from monies paid for medical treatment at the Government Civil Hospital; the cost of the upkeep of the Government Civil Hospital, to put it at a very low figure, costs the Govern- ment $120,000 annually. Then there must also be taken into consideration the large expenditure incurred on the other hospitals. I therefore think that the Govern- ment would be perfectly justified in crediting the funds of the Government Civil Hospital, or other hospital, with any sums received on account of treatment, the other hospitals being credited with the amounts they have respectively collected.
3. The second case I would draw your attention to are the fees paid by the Queen's College scholars for tuition. The Government philanthropically conducts a college at a great loss of money for the benefit of the inhabitants, the actual cost being, roughly, about $80,000 per annum. It is, therefore, incongruous to expect the Government to pay military contribution on the fees which they receive in return for this great expenditure. The fees for the current year have only averaged $8,317.22 per mensem; so that at the end of year, if there is not a large increase in the fees, the total fees received by the Government will amount to, roughly, $39,000 minus military contribution $7,800 - $31,200, in return of an expenditure of $80,000.
4. I believe I am correct in saying that neither secondary schools, technical institutes, nor hospitals are liable to income tax in England.
• No. 194.
11667 not printed; and No. 199.
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON|
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH––NOT TO