CO129-546-10 Naval Armament Depot- payment by Hong Kong Government of final instalment 11-1-1934 - 4-11-1934 — Page 5

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(24)

92608/32.

(18) and (5) on 92608/32.

(24) idem and (3) on 13810/33

Government to implement their proposals to

provide alternative magazine accommodation for

the army, and at (24) on that file the Admiralty

agreed that until the question of the liability

for the cost of diverting the ropeway had been

settled they would be willing that the sum of

money involved (£5,000) should be deducted from

the final instalment payable by the Hong Kong

Government to naval funds.

At (3) on 13810/33 the Admiralty repeated

that they would raise no objection to the sum of

£5,000 being withheld, pending a settlement of

the question of the ropeway, when payment of the

last instalment of the two million dollars was

made.

The present position is that both the War

Office and the Admiralty have disclaimed liability

for the cost of diverting the aerial ropeway

though the Admiralty have, somewhat illogically,

agreed that the estimated cost of the diversion

(£5,000) should be withheld from the final

instalment due to them until the question is

decided.

In (6) on 92608/32 we subscribed to the

view that in return for a payment of $2,000,000

the Hong Kong Government was entitled to

receive the Naval Arsenal Yard free of encumbrances

and in (21) idem we told the Admiralty so. The

Admiralty as the other party to the agreement with

the Hong Kong Government should surely be

responsible for the removal of the ropeway, and

indeed, (5) on 92608/32 notwithstanding, they

appear to have gone some way towards accepting

such