CO129-265 - Public Offices & Others - 1894 — Page 93

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Sir,

TREASURY CHAMBERS.

Mh

88

July 1894.

The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury request you to inform the Marquess of Ripon that They have had before Them the Report of the Colonial Military Con- tributions Committee, dated the 24th May last, respecting the contribution from Hong Kong for the five years 1894 to 1898, and that They have signified to the Secretary of State for War their concurrence in the recommendation of the Committee that the amount of the contribution should remain unchanged at £40,000 per annum for the period in question.

It will be remembered that, when a contribution at this rate was first proposed by the Committee in 1888, the Treasury was strongly convinced of its insufficiency, having regard to the large cost of the Garrison, the prosperity of the Colony, and the light taxation to which

it is subjected. When this Department at last consented in 1890 to accept £40,000 per annum for three years, and afterwards concurred in a renewal of the contribution at that rate for one year more, it was in the hope that a material augmentation would soon become practicable.

Unfortunately, the continued fall in the gold value of silver has so greatly increased the burthen imposed on the resources of the Colony by a contribution of £40,000 per annum, since its first imposition, that My Lords do not think it prudent to propose any addition to it

The Under Secretary of State,

COLONIAL OFFICE.

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