PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O. 882
9
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
96
The expenditure for which Mr. Secretary Chamberlain proposes that provision should be made is as follows:-
Recurrent:-
Administration of Wei-Hai-Wei
Liu-Kung-Tau
Lighting of Harbour
Mail Service Chefoo-Wei-Hai-Wei
Works, repairs, furniture, &c.
Non-recurrent:-
Roads
Lighting Harbour
Total Expenditure for year 1901-2...
$32,000
10,000
3,000
10,000
55,000
$23,500 42,000 12,000
77,500
$132,500
My Lords have carefully compared the detailed figures in the statement annexed to your letter with the recommendations in Sir F. Swettenham's Report, and, subject to the decision that may be arrived at on receipt of the views of the Secretary of State for War, as to the total emoluments to be assigned to the Military Commissioner, they approve generally of the establishment proposed for Wei-Hai-Wei and Liu-Kung-Tau,
and of the other items of the Estimate.
Against the total estimated expenditure of $132,500 there is to be set an estimated revenue of $20,000, leaving a probable deficit of $112,500; and, on the recommenda- tion of the Secretary of State, they assent to the insertion of a Grant-in-Aid of £11,250 in the Draft Colonial Services Estimate for the coming year.
As regards the three months from the 1st instant, during which the Colonial Office will be responsible for the Civil Administration, I am to enquire what will be the anticipated expenditure and how it will be met.
3162.
SIR,
No. 82.
I am, &c.,
AUSTÉN CHAMBERLAIN.
TREASURY to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received January 25, 1901.)
Treasury Chambers, January 24, 1901. WITH reference to your letter, 1282/1901, of the 18th instant,* relative to the emoluments to be assigned to the Commissioner of Wei-Hai-Wei, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury to state that they concur in the suggestion of Mr. Secretary Chamberlain that there be assigned to the post a salary of £1,150 a year, with an entertainment allowance of £200 a year (to be drawn in the Commissioner's absence by his locum tenens), and a house allowance of £150 a year, to cease as soon as proper quarters are ready for the Commissioner's occupation.
I am, &c.,
2885.
SIR,
FRANCIS MOWATT.
No. 83.
COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.
[Answered No. 85.]
your
Downing Street, January 29, 1901. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to acknowledge the receipt of letter of the 22nd instant,† stating that the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have agreed to the insertion of a Grant-in-Aid of £11,250 for the Civil Administration of Wei-Hai-Wei in the Colonial Services Estimate for 1901-2.
• No. 80,
+ No. RI.
97
2. As regards the last paragraph of your letter under acknowledgment, I am to request you to inform their Lordships that the information which Mr. Chamberlain has received as to current expenditure at Wei-Hai-Wei is altogether insufficient to enable him to name a specific amount for the total civil expenditure of the three month. beginning the 1st instant. As it is possible that the Secretary of State for War may be in a position to furnish more exact details, a letter has been addressed to the War Office on the subject.
•
3. Mr. Chamberlain is disposed to think that the civil expenditure likely to be incurred during the period in question will probably be very small in amount; and I am to observe that in a letter to the War Office, dated the 28th March last, it was asked that only such expenditure should be incurred in connection with the Civil Administration as was considered absolutely necessary. He would accordingly suggest for their Lordships' consideration that the simplest course would be to allow any ex- penditure incurred before the 31st March next, and not covered by local receipts to be charged to Army Funds, in the first instance at any rate. It would be especially convenient if Colonel Dorward's salary could continue to be paid from Army Funds, at its present rate, until the 31st March next.
4. The above suggestion has been embodied in the letter to the War Office referred to in paragraph 2 of this letter.
3162.
SIR,
(No. 5.)
No. 84.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to MAJOR-GENERAL DORWARD.
Downing Street, February 1901.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you for your information and guidance a copy of correspondencet with the Treasury, as noted in the margin, in regard to the estimated excess of the civil expenditure of Wei-Hai-Wei, during the financial year beginning on the 1st April next, over its revenue for the same period.
Colonial Office to Treasury, 11th Jan. Colonial Office to Treasury, 18th Jan. Treasury, 22nd Jan. Treasury, 24th Jan.
2. You will observe from this correspondence that I have adopted the estimate proposed by Sir Frank Swettenham in section 36 of his report (a copy of which is enclosed), with the modifications explained in the letter to the Treasury of the 11th ultimo; and that the Lords Commissioners have agreed to insert in the Draft Colonial Services Estimate for the year a Grant-in-Aid of the public revenue of Wei-Hai-Wei, to the amount of £11,250.
3. As regards the question of how the civil expenditure during the first three months of 1901 is to be met, I have not yet learned whether the Secretary of State for War, with whom I have communicated on the subject, can furnish any detailed infor- mation. In view, however, of the request made in a letter from this Department to the War Office in March last, that only such expenditure should be incurred in con- nection with the Civil Administration as was considered absolutely necessary, I anticipate that the civil expenditure for the period in question will not amount to much; and I have asked that it might, in the first instance at any rate, be charged to Army Funds, so far as it is not covered by local receipts. I shall be glad, however, to be placed in possession of the exact figures of this expenditure as soon as possible after 4. The financial position of the Dependency renders it necessary to restrict civil expenditure to the lowest point compatible with efficiency. I am confident that this principle will be carefully borne in mind throughout the year. The estimate on which the application to the Treasury was based is, of course, largely experimental in its nature; and it will be desirable to know by the beginning of December next in what particulars it will require amendment, with a view to making the necessary provision for the following financial year.
the 31st March next.
5. The draft of an Order in Council providing for the Civil Administration of Wei-Hai-Wei has been prepared, and is at present under the consideration of the Law
• No. 29.
5855
† Nos. 79, 80, 81, and 82.
↑ No. 52.