CO129-316 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [1-4] — Page 194

}

Hongkong.

48587

48570

02

sir.

180

189

Goverment House, 13 MW 7

Hongkong, 6th. February, 1903.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt

of your Despatch No.434 of the 19th. December last on the

subject of the Estimates for 1903 and the proposal to raise

a Lean to defray the cast of certain Public Works.

2.

I agree with you that it is not necessary

at the present time to resort to a Lean, and I would remind

you that in the 5th. paragraph of my Despatch No. 466 of the

24th. of October last I suggested that if a Loan were authorised

arrangements should be made by which money might be borrowed

as required instead of raising the whole Loan at once. It was

net my intention that borrowing should be resorted to se long

as the necessary funds were forthcoming from Revenue. At the

same time I did not consider that I was at liberty to take

the probable balance at the end of a year into account in

order to balance the budget fer the succeeding year, and I

felt therefore bound te indicate how the deficit an the 1903

Estimates could be met without taking the estimated balance

on the year 1902 into account.

3.

You question the propriety of describing

the works which I proposed should be charged to the Loan when

it became necessary,

as remunerative er productive. But I

would

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,

8cc...

8cc..

20.