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00028
Я не подошла
while we could
ark for this
see now 104
from the extract of the minutes of a meeting held in August at (97 that the M.C.A. have not yet considered that there is any necessity for the provision of an international airport in Hong Kong. In our last letter to the M.C.A. on the matter at (59) we said that finance would appear to be the determining factor and we were awaiting a reply to our despatch to the Governor on the matter. This reply is at (92) and in so far as the M.C.A. are concerned, the suggestion is that they, together with the Air Ministry, should contribute a capital sum of £2,000,000 towards the construction of this airport.
It has already been confirmed by the Chiefs
of Staff Committee that there is no requirement for a military airfield in Hong Kong at (31), and although A.M.S.O. has recently visited Hong Kong it is doubtful whether he will be able to persuade the Chiefs of Staff Committee to change their minds and I think we must proceed at the moment on the assumption that no financial capital contribution can be expected from the Air Ministry and that even if the A.M. were to change its mind, it is doubtful whether the Treasury would agree.
Nevertheless, despite these difficulties we must approach the M.C.A. on the matter, and if we are to do so it is necessary to consider whether a grant of £1,000,000 can be made to Hong Kong from the general reserve of the Colonial Development and Welfare fund for the purpose of constructing this airport. It is difficult to say how such expenditure could be justified on one Colony in respect of one airport when we may be faced with similar calls upon the general reserve fund of £2,000,000 from other territories in the Far East. I have in mind a possible request from Malaya, Borneo and Sarawak, to say nothing of other commitments which may arise in East and Central Africa. Nevertheless, it is most important that if we consider the construction of an international airport at Hong Kong to be a matter of importance we should be willing to back our opinion financially. I should have thought that the limit to which we were able to go, subject to the views of Finance Dept., was £500,000. After all, if we are to ask the M.C.A. for £2,000,000 we might as well ask for £2,500,000.
The question then remains of what reasons we are to put to the M.C.A. to vaunt the claims of Hong Kong, which has no airfield suitable to accommodate four-engined planes, against the merits of White Cloud which is already in existance and which appears to be capable of extension. In this connection, mch will depend upon the negotiations shortly to be initiated with the Chinese Government, in which no doubt the M.C.A. will ask for the use of facilities at White Cloud on their service to Japan. Our reasons for asking that an airport should be constructed at Hong Kong are firstly that the operational facilities which would be provided in British territory would undoubtedly be better than those encountered in Chinese territory. Secondly, despite the ruling of the Chiefs of Staff that there is no requirement for such a field in Hong Kong; there can be no doubt that its existence would be of extremely great value to the R.A.F., which might otherwise find itself without any suitable airfield in the area which it could use. Thirdly, it would be a matter of the greatest inconvenience if passengers
wishing
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