CO129-556-12 Naval Arsenal Yard- hand over to Hong Kong Government 4-2-1936 - 21-12-1936 — Page 20

3.

20

Enclo.No.1.

Enclo.No.2.

opportunity of re-stating the facts shortly.

When in 1929 it was found that the convenience of

both Military and Civil Authorities in Hong Kong would be

served by the transfer to other sites of Military magazines,

the then Governor, Sir C. Clementi, obtained from the then

General Officer Commanding an estimate of £71,000 as the

cost of such transfer. On the basis of that sum the

Colonial Government conveyed certain proposals to the

Military Authorities in Sir C. Clementi's letter of 17th September, 1929, addressed to the General Officer Commanding,

a copy of which is enclosed. It will be observed from the enclosed copy of the reply to that letter from the General

Officer Commanding, dated 27th September, 1929, that the proposals of the Colonial Government were not accepted and

that further negotiations were proposed by the Military

Authorities, and were in fact later pursued by both parties.

The final result was that the amended terms to which the

Military Authorities were prepared to agree differed greatly from the original proposals, and were so little attractive to the Colonial Government that Sir William Peel with the

concurrence of his Executive Council decided in view of the

heavy expenditure involved, which the Colony could ill afford, that the scheme should not be pursued for the

present. It is obvious from the fact that the proposals had not been submitted to your predecessor that the matter had not gone beyond the preparatory stage of preliminary negotiations. In these circumstances it is not apparent what justification there is for the statement in the third paragraph of the War Office letter.

6.

With reference to the fifth paragraph of the War Office letter, it is to be observed that of the terms

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