CO129-497 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 395

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

Printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence. August 1928,

387

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SECRET.

Copy No.

20

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will almost certainly become known to the

Governments of Japan and of the United

States of Americe before they will have hed

time to answer the question to be put to them

by the Foreign Office,

The result would minest surely be

to throw doubt upon the bona fides of the

inquiry;

and this risk is to be run for

the sake of a possible seving in the price of the

land. In my opinion there is no reason to

suppose from the Governor'e despatch of the

18th February last that there is any real

risk of a rising market in land values in

China within the next few months, but even were conditions in Chins repidly to become

more ats le in the next few months, in my opinion our policy should be to swcertain whether there is any objection on the part of our co-signateries to the Treaty of Washington

to the provision of an aerodrome at nong nong

and to endeavour to remove any objection that

may be disclosed before allowing any steps to

be taken towards mien provision.

517-M. (Revised Draft.)

COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

OVERSEA DEFENCE COMMITTEE.

HONG KONG-DEFENCE OF.

SITE FOR AN AERODROME AND FORMATION OF A LOCAL POLICE AIR UNIT. Memorandum by the Oversea Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence.

THE Prime Minister, on the recommendation of the Chiefs of Staff Sub- Committee, has referred to the Oversea Defence Committee an Interim Report prepared by the Joint Staffs, who are at present engaged on the examination of the lefence of Hong Kong in accordance with a decision arrived at by the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee at their 27th Meeting, held on the 11th March, 1926 (C.O.S. 27th Meeting, Conclusion 2 (a) ).

2. The interim Report by the Joint Staffs, which is attached to this Memo- randum as Appendix I, deals only with certain aspects of the defence of Hong Kong, namely, the desirability that the Kai Tak reclamation area should be acquired as a site for an aerodrome, and the question of the formation of a small local air unit for police work, both of which proposals were suggested by the Governor of Hong Kong in a despatch dated the 18th February, 1926. The despatch with its enclosures, which have already received consideration by the Joint Staffs, are reproduced as Appendix II to this Memorandum.

3. The Interim Report was considered by the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee at their meeting held on the 27th July, 1926, when attention was drawn to a despatchi from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of Hong Kong, dated the 23rd June, 1926, in which it was stated that proposals would shortly be made to the Committee of Imperial Defence that the various Governments interested in the Washington Treaty should be invited to a Conference with a view to reaching agreed Conclusions as to the interpretation of Article 19 of the Treaty, and that pending the results of such a Conference it would appear that the proposals for the creation of an Air Force or for the purchase of land for an aerodrome could not be usefully pursued. This despatch is reproduced as Appendix III to this Memorandum. 4. During the course of the discussion which took place it was pointed out that the results of such an International Conference, suggested in the above-mentioned rlespatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, might not be forthcoming for Reveral years, and that in the meantime the land at present available for an aerodrome might have been built over.

5. The Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee, whilst in complete agreement that the recommendations of the Joint Staffs should be accepted, recognised, however, that the questions before them had only been considered by, and agreement reached between, the three Service Departments, and that other Departments of State were interested in the matter. Accordingly they recommended to the Prime Minister that the Interim Report by the Joint Staffs be referred to the Oversea Defence Committee. in order that the views of the Colonial Office and other Departments concerned might receive consideration, at the same time commending the recommendations contained in the Interim Report on strategical grounds.

6. The question was considered by the Oversea Defence Committee at their 271st Meeting held on the 3rd August, 1926, when the Committee expressed their general agreement that from the point of view of defence, the acquisition of the Kai Tak reclamation area at Hong Kong was highly desirable.

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