CO129-467 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1921 [1-5] — Page 161

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Mr Beckett

Perins Treas. LE

give them 2 months compe

NFIDENTIAL.

RES

16984

RE 3 AP 21

Sir,

160

GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

HONGKONG. 28th February, 1921.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt

of Lord Milner's Confidential despatch of December 24th,

1920, from which I note with regret that it is not considered possible to remove the audit of the accounts of Hongkong

from the control of the Colonial Audit Department.

2.

I do not desire to question His Lordship's

decision but at the same time I venture to observe that the

statements of the Director of Colonial Audit with regard to

the cost of audit do not carry conviction. A comparison

between the circumstances of this Colony and those of the

Straits Settlements based on the figures of revenue and

expenditure only is necessarily fallacious. The Straits Settlements consist of four widely separated districts, (leaving Christmas Island out of account) and clearly considerable expenditure must be incurred on travelling. In this Colony practically all the offices which the staff of the Audit Department is required to visit lie within a few minutes walk of each other. The Kowloon Railway Office, Railway Store and Post Office can be reached in twenty minutes, and there are no other places which the European staff visit except an opium office at Taipo, an hour's train journey, and some Harbour Out-stations, the examinat- ion of which takes about 4 days half-yearly. Tours of

UGHT HONOURABLE

WINSTON CHURCHILL, M.P.,

Inspection

&C..

&c..

&c.