CO129-516-3 Military contribution of Colony assessmenet of contribution 13-3-1929 - 28-3-1930 — Page 28

DRAFT

HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

GOVERNOR

Sir,

Draft embodying suggested

Amendments by War office.

28

Downing Street,

May, 1930.

15)

10 on 52802/28 1 on 62916/29

With further reference to your

confidential despatch of the 31st July last,

regarding the military contribution payable

by the Government of Hong Kong, I have the

honour to inform you that, after consultation with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury

and the Army Council, I regret that I am unable to agree to your proposal that an

entirely new basis of assessment, viz. a

percentage of the annual rateable valuation

of the Colony should be adopted in place of the present basis of a percentage (20%) of

annual revenue.

2.

I am, however, considering whether

in view of the reserved claims mentioned in

Mr. Southron's Confidential (1) despatch of the 28th July, 1928, and the proposals in your despatch No.400 of the 10th September, 1929, any modifications may be desirable and possible in the existing system in order to bring it up to date. In any read justment it

will be necessary to be guided by the principles set out in the following paragraph which have been agreed to govern the assessment of the military contribution not only of Hong Kong but also of the other Colonies who make such contributions.

3.

It is generally agreed that it is

equitable