CO129-502-1 Singapore naval base- payment of Hong Kong's contribution 7-1-1927 - 27-9-1927 — Page 13

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opinion, purely for the convenience of the Admiralty and it would therefore appear, if my contention is

correct, that the Admiralty would have priority of

claim to any accrued interest. In this connection, I

would refer you to enclosure in C.S.0.2921/25, a copy

of Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Vol:61, No.58

of 1st July, 1925, page 909, the Civil Lord of the

Admiralty, Earl Stanhope, is quoted as having said "As

"to the generous gift of £250,000 by Hong Kong, that

"money was given under no conditions except that it

"was naturally for the development of the base. X X X X”

4.

As a considerable time has elapsed

since the gift was made, and considerable changes in

the personnel have occurred in the Administration of

the Government, I hope you will not consider it out of

place if I make a few remarks regarding what, I believe,

was the underlying principal which prompted this Colony

to make the gift to the Imperial Government.

During the late War there was a scheme

of local shipping control from which a very considerable

profit accrued to this Government, amounting, I believe,

to about two and half million dollars. After the War

there was a diversity of opinion as to the rightful

ownership of this profit, which led to some controversy,

but which happily since the gift was made for the

Singapore Base, has relaxed, with the exception f an

occasional reference by a few of the "Diehards".

I

believe it was, therefore, considered more politic to

place the money at the disposal of the Imperial

Government to be utilized imperially, rather than retain

it to meet local expenditure.

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