244
the Reserve Fund, if established as suggested, and the proportion of the revenue equivalent to the year's appropriation to the Opium Revenue Replacement Reserve Fund should not be assessable to Defence Contribution.
3.
245
MR. STONOR was in favour of the sum of $8,000,000 rather than $10,000,000 being set aside, as he considered that it was not safe to leave only a margin of $3,000,000 for possible emergencies.
704
His Excellency
The Officer Administering the Government,
Straits Settlements.
We have, &c.,
D. T. LEWIS.
J. W. CAMPBELL,
Annexure "A."
W. H. THORNE.
JOHN MITCHELL.
A. M. POUNTNEY (Chairman).
Income derivable at 4 per cent. from a fund made up of a lump sum of $30 million and annual contributions of $2, $24, $3, and $1 million respectively, after periods of 5, 10, 15, and 20 years on the assumption that no drawings are made on the fund in those periods.
Annually
Annually
Annually
Annually
2 million.
24 million.
Period.
Millions of $.
Millions of $.
3 million. Millions of $.
3 million. Millions of $.
5 years
2.002
2.056
2.110
2.218
2.977
3.097
3.217
3.457
""
15 20
4.164
4.364
12
4.564
4.964
5.607
5.905
22
6.203
6.798
10
(Confidential.)
SIR,
Enclosure 3 in No. 212.
31st July, 1925.
WITH reference to your letter No. 2 in H.C.O. Confidential 42/1925 covering a Confidential despatch dated 24th March, 1925. from the Secretary of State, I have the honour to forward a memorandum prepared by the Financial Commissioner, Mr. L.. McLean, which sets out the scheme which the Johore Government proposes to adopt with a view to becoming independent of opium revenue within a period of 20 years. The Johore Government proposes to set aside $4,000,000 out of its surplus towards the necessary Fund, and to add $13 million annually to the Fund.
2.
3. It is hoped that the above economies can be made without curtailing the necessary expenditure on road development in the State.
Jon
4. It is not at present proposed to introduce new forms of taxation, but it is possible that when the Land Office books are reopened to applications the [? applications for large areas may be increased.
I have, &c.,
T. W. CLAYTON, Acting General Adviser, Johore.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Note. This table is compiled on the assumption that the fund (including the interest derived from it) is invested in securities producing a steady 4 per cent. per
annum.
Enclosure 2 in No. 212.
NOTES OF A Meeting held at Carcosa on 18TH JULY, 1925, TO CONSIDER THE ACTION TO BE TAKEN TO REPLACE THE LOSS OF OPIUM REVENUE.
THERE were present:—
SIR W. GEORGE MAXWELL, K.B.E., C.M.G., in the Chair. THE HONOURABLE COLONEL C. W C. PARR, C.M.G., O.B.E. THE HONOURABLE MR. O. F. STONER, C.M.G.
THE HONOURABLE MR. E. C. H. WOLFF.
MR. G. H. NASH who represented the Honourable Mr. H. W.
Thomson.
MESSRS. A. M. POUNTNEY, R. C. M. KINDERSLEY, J. H. M. ROBSON. CHOO KIA PENG, C. RITCHIE, J. H. Ricп, THE RAJA DI HILIR. and MR. WONG YICK TONG.
Mr. H. T. Jones sent a message of regret for his inability to attend the meeting. 1. THE CHAIRMAN referred to the correspondence that had been circulated to all members, and then asked Mr. Pountney to address the meeting.
2. MR. POUNTNEY read and handed in a written memorandum (enclosure (22)). After general discussion, the meeting agreed to the following decision, which was read out by the Chairman :—
The members of this meeting will support resolution in Federal Council that the sum of $10,000,000 out of the sum of $13,000,000 which represents the available cash balance of the [? Federated Malay States] Government at the present time after the Loan Account has been set aside for loan purposes, be handed over to trustees to be appointed in the Federated Malay States for invest- ment, preferably in the Federated Malay States, in accordance with the deed of trust; and, further, that the equivalent of 15 per cent. of the opium revenue of the current year be paid into the same account. successor in the Federal Council, the members will express themselves in favour Without committing its of the general principle of 15 per cent. as a minimum of the opium revenue being paid into the fund every year until the time when the period of fifteen years under the protocol begins to run."
The Secretary to the High Commissioner
for the Malay States, Singapore.
Opium Trust Fund
The revenue for 1924 amounted to $10,900,000, of which chandu revenue con- tributed $3,300,000, while $7,600,000 came from other sources. The corresponding figures in 1923 were chandu $3,600,000, other sources $7,400,000.
2. The revenue from other sources "should be compared with the total annually recurrent expenditure. In 1925 Estimates, omitting Public Works Special Services, there is provision for the expenditure of $7 million. Included in this figure is about $400,000 (of which nearly $200,000 is for rubber restriction), on account of special expenditure. It is necessary, however, that some special expendi- ture should be provided for every year and a portion, at any rate, of the $400,000 should, for our present purposes, be regarded as annually recurrent expenditure. Further, the above figures do not include renewals of public works and buildings which must necessarily be undertaken from time to time and are shown under Special Services. Annual requirements may therefore really be not much less than $7 million. (I have assumed that temporary allowances will eventually be merged in salaries.)
3. Moreover, with the completion of additional public works, charges for increases of staff, supervision, and maintenance will necessitate a gradual increase in annually recurrent expenditure. "Other sources about $7 million and the additional sum which will be required to meet increases of revenue amount only to to current expenditure when the chandu revenue disappears is not likely to be less than $1 million,
4. It does not seem possible to find new sources of revenue in Johore and the formation of an Opium Trust Fund from surpluses on the lines suggested in the memorandum of Mr. Marriott, Acting Colonial Secretary, is the only course I can suggest. The period within which the Government must be prepared to become independent of the chandu revenue is 20 years during the last 15 of which a fair working assumption is that the chandu revenue will decrease every year by a fixed sum equal to 1/15th of the revenue.
5. Our surplus at the end of 1924 was about $11,100,000. In 1925 Estimates expenditure is entered at $114 million. Unforeseen revotes and supplementary warrants amount to about $3 million, making a total possible liability of $12 million. The estimate of revenue for 1925 is only $10 million but at the persent time it seems quite possible that, taking into account savings on votes, the actual revenue will be sufficient to meet the whole of the above liability.
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