CO129-498-13 Recommendations to strengthen defences against overseas attack- practicability of Air Ministry proposals and estimate of... 18-2-1926 - 18-2-1926 — Page 11

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15.

The arguments in the despatch of Sir R.E.Stubbs, to which you refer, apply to the development of the Air Force equally with other branches of the

Colony's defence: and I hold out no hope whatever of

voluntary assistance from private firms in support

of further expenditure for the Garrison or the Air

Force. The suggestion that British concessions

in China should contribute to expenditure incurred in

Hongkong, on the ground that the Garrison is utilised

wherever protection is called for, is put forward

very tentatively: and I agree with Sir R.E.Stubbs in

his view that it is at present no more than a line

of thought which it may be worth while to pursue

further. It is, however, a matter which would

naturally be investigated by the Foreign Office through

H.B.M.Minister at Peking, and this Government can

hardly at this stage venture to reduce the general

suggestion to any more definite form.

16.

The plan (enclosure No.2) supplies the

detail required to complete this despatch: and it will

be seen that the expenditure I suggest involves

an estimated total of $1,738,000. Of this sum

$738,000 is the estimated cost of completing the

entire

reclamation ( a work which would be undertaken

by the Government at its own choice of time) and

se $1,000,000 it is estimated would be sufficient

to buy out the Kai Tak Company.

I have, therefore, the honour to

17.

request authority to negotiate with the Kai Tak Company for the purchase of their rights over the 170 acres which appear on the plan coloured buff at the estimated cost of $1,000,000.: and to finance this

operation by the issue in due course of Treasury Bonds.

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