130
Lordship that a Board of Education should be constituted in the Straits Settlements in order to advise the Government of the Colony on educational matters and assist in the administration of expenditure on education
2 This proposal involves the direct receipt by the Board of all fees charged in Government schools, which will therefore no longer appear in the Colonial Esti- mates The adoption of this procedure will slightly reduce the amount on which the defence contribution of the Straits Settlements is levied: but it appeared to Lord Crewe, in considering the scheme put forward by the Governor, that it was impossible to reject his recommendation that the Board which was to determine the amount of the fees and to decide as to their expenditure should also receive direct the revenue from this source.
I am, &c.,
20705
No 154
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
H. BERTRAM COX
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. (No. 176.)
SIR,
Downing Street, 13th July, 1909. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 223, of the 27th of May, and to inform you that I approve your proposal to appoint a Board of Education for the Straits Settlements to carry out the duties enumerated in the report of the Committee which you appointed to consider the question, and to advise the Governor generally on educational matters in the manner proposed in paragraph 3 of your despatch.
2 I am informing the War Office of the proposal that the fees for school attendance should no longer appear on the Colonial Estimates but be paid direct to the Board of Education.
I have, &c.,
CREWE
23601
24088
131
No. 156.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 19 July, 1909.)
(Confidential.)
MY LORD,
Government House, Singapore, 24th June, 1909. WITH reference to my confidential despatch of this date regarding the abolition of the opium and spirit monopolies, as only the net revenue from the opium and spirit monopolies is at present assessed for military contribution, I presume that His Majesty's Government will agree that the same course should be followed in future, and that, in assessing our revenue for military contribution, only the net receipts after deducting interest on capital, cost of management, manufacture, &c., should be brought to account.
2. It is contemplated that there will be an immediate loss to the Colony of not less than one and a half million dollars annually from opium revenue; I understand that the Colony of Hongkong is to receive a substantial contribution from His Majesty's Government on account of her loss from the same source, and I ask that the circumstances of this Colony may also receive similar consideration, and trust that I may be able to inform the Legislative Council that His Majesty's Government will give assistance to the Straits Settlements and, if possible, what that assistance will be.
3. It will probably in any case be necessary to find additional sources of revenue to replace the diminished revenue from opium, and I trust that in regard to receipts from such new sources His Majesty's Government will agree that it is only fair that they should forgo military contribution until at any rate the income from such sources together with any grant received from His Majesty's Government exceeds the amount of the loss of the revenue from opium and spirits, as provided in the existing contracts.
I have, &c.,
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
No. 155.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 15 July, 1909.)
Answered by No. 160.]
SIR,
War Office, London, S.W., 14th July, 1909. I AM commanded by the Army Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 17224 of 8th June,† regarding the assessment, for the purpose of the military contribution of the Straits Settlements, of revenue derived from certain Government buildings let to Government officers at a rental.
In reply I am to inform you that, as at present advised, the Council are not prepared to admit that this is an undertaking of such a nature that the receipts from it should be assessed net.
Apart from this point, however, I am to state that the gross receipts from this source appear to have constituted part of the general revenue of the Colony in 1895, when the percentage payable was fixed, and that the change of system involved in the assessment of net instead of gross receipts would imply a corresponding increase in that percentage. In this connection I am to point out that the correspondence of 1899 (ride enclosed copy of Treasury letter of 22nd June, 1899), on the subject of the possible future application of the principle of net assessment to commercial undertakings other than railways, referred exclusively to new sources of revenue.
The Council are therefore of opinion that the receipts from the buildings now in question should continue to be assessed in the gross.
I am, &c.,
R. H. BRADE.
• No. 152.
* No. 150.
‡ No. 12..
25602
SIR,
No. 157.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
JOHN ANDERSON.
WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 30 July, 1909.)
[Answered by No. 158.]
War Office, London, S. W., 30th July, 1909. WITH reference to your letter, 20705/9, of 13th instant,t regarding the exclusion of fees charged in Government schools in the Straits Settlements from the revenue assessable to military contribution, I am commanded by the Army Council to point out that receipts from this source were included in the revenue on which the percentage was origínally fixed.
2. The change is proposed in order that the whole of the amount received in school fees may be administered by the Board of Education to be established in the Colony, and it appears to be based on the assumption that revenue raised for a specific purpose may properly be excluded from assessment. Though in certain cases of new and temporary revenue (e.g., the proceeds of taxation for the service of a loan) the Army Council have raised no objection to the adoption of such a course, they have never admitted this principle to be capable of application to receipts which were included under revenue when the percentage system was introduced.
24087: not printed,
↑ No. 153
34088
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON:
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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