CO129-540-7 Dredging of Hong Kong Harbour 26-4-1932 - 1-10-1932 — Page 84

D

Brimal

RECEIVED

26 JUL 1932

COL.OFFICE

Treasury Chambers,

83

Whitehall, S.W.

July 23rd, 1932.

Dear Shuckburgh,

At the meeting of the Imperial Shipping

Committee yesterday there was a further long discussion

about Hong Kong harbour, the upshot of which was that

the Committee were disposed to recommend that the harbour

should be dredged to a depth of 36 feet.

The Admiralty

said that they favoured a deepening to 36 feet and they

themselves contemplated dredging to the north of the

harbour to a cost of something like £40,000, which might

be combined with the contract for the commercial harbour.

But what influenced the Committee I think mainly was that

the additional cost of going to 36 feet instead of 34 feet

seemed to be only £20,000, and they did not think it worth

while to boggle at this. On the other hand they were

strongly against any increased charge to shipping for

the benefit of the few boats which required such a depth.

Personally I was not very much impressed by Mackie's

evidence and it seemed to me that the main benefit of

the improvement would go to the Godown Company, who built

their new pier in comparatively shallow water despite the