CO129-557-6 Tenure of lands held by War Department 16-1-1936 - 25-1-1937 — Page 26

4.

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incurred and to be incurred on them by the War Department is estimated at some $1,000,000).

(c) The Colonial Goverment will assume and finance the maintenance of each of these roads, outside War Department lands, from the date of its completion. The estimated cost is between ten and fifteen

thousand dollars per annum.

(a) The Colonial Government will at its own expense (about $60,000, provided in the 1937 budget) double the Kai Tak-Customs Pass Road, at present a single- track road, which is of military importance in that

it forms the access to several of the roads shewn on

the map.

The widening will also meet eventual civil

requirements.

(e) In consideration for (d) the War Department will at its own expense construct as a double road a portion, about four miles in length, of the Customs Pass-High Junk Road, which would otherwise have been constructed as a single road.

5.

I may say here that this arrangement represents a greater concession on the part of the Colonial Government than any contemplated prior to my arrival. As regards certain of the roads on the mainland the China Command was informed on the 8th November, 1935, that the Colony would contribute nothing towards their cost or improvement on the ground that they were required solely for military purposes, but that the Civil Administration would maintain them at a cost not exceeding the annual average cost of roads of a similar type, any excess to be billed against the Military Authorities. This is exactly the kind of arrangement that spells future misunderstanding and disagreement and I am most anxious to avoid it. Moreover, although the immediate construction of these roads is due solely to military requirements, they will afford access to some of the Colony's