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 3

54

No. SECRET.

NUMBER AND DATE SHOULD

BE QUOTED IN REFERENCE

TO THIS LETTER

Sir,

C

143

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG,

18th February, 1926190

I have the honour to acknowledge

53534

1531

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the receipt of your secret despatch of 10th

December, 1925, covering a copy of a letter with

enclosure in original from the Air Ministry. The

enclosures deal with a suggestion for the provision

of an aerodrome site in the Colony, and the despatch

calls upon me to furnish a report upon the

practicability of the proposals of the Air Ministry

and the cost involved. You enquire further whether

the arguments adduced in Sir R.E.Stubbs' secret

despatch of 13th October, 1925, on the subject

of expenditure for the increase of the Garrison

of Hongkong apply equally to the question of

Air Defence.

2.

I welcome the opportunity of

expressing my views as since my arrival in the Colony in November 1925, the question of providing aircraft for Hongkong has been continuously

pressed on my attention, and I have had it under

the most careful consideration from every aspect. The requirements of the Defence of the Colony, the possibilities of Police aviation, and the probable development of civil commercial aviation

have all been passed under review and fully discussed: and the matter of aerodrome accommodation has inevitably arisen in considering any aspect

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LIEUTENANT COLONEL L.C.M.SAMERY,M.P.,

& C