CO129-399 - Governor Sir May - 1913 [1-2] — Page 431

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Dupl

CONFIDENTIA L.

द

7572

423

REC?

94 MAR

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG, 10th. February, 1913.

34573

Sir,

The

J446

In continuation of my Confidential Despatch of

the 11th. ultimo, I have the honour to inform you that I have been endeavouring to ascertain what is the present financial condition of the Kwangtung Government in order to be in a position to offer advice to Mr. Kong Kung-yan, should he desire it, as to the best means to be adopted for redeeming the unsecured note issue of the

Provincial Government.

2.

It is impossible to get trustworthy information concerning the revenue and expenditure of the Government but it would appear that the monthly excess of expenditure over revenue has not been less than $500,000 in the months of September to December inclusive. In my Despatch of the 31st. of October I re- 72--ported that in August it had dropped from $1,000,000 to $494,000. I am assured that in January the deficit on the month's working was $700,000 and I am informed on what is considered by the Registrar-General to be good authority that in a recent conversa- -tion with Kong Kung-yan the Governor-General estimated that the deficit, exclusive of the liability represented by the fact that unsecured notes of an estimated face value of $50,000,000 are in

circulation, would on the 30th. of June next reach $20,000,000. It is hoped that the deficit on the January working may be reduced by $300,000 in succeeding months if a large scheme for the disband- -ment of soldiery is successful. On the other hand the estimated

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,

&c..

&C.

80..

revenue