CO129-560-2 Air Ministry- requirements of land at Kai Tak Aerodromes 8-1-1937 - 5-2-1938 — Page 23

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AIR MAIL

(20)

Treasy. (21)

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aly #K.

2.0/-/47.

SECRET

Sir,

19

23

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG,

13th September, 1937.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your secret air mail despatch of 5th March, 1937,

on the subject of the terms on which land in Hong Kong

is and should be transferred for the use of the Air

Ministry.

2.

You are aware that the present military

contribution, from the consideration of which the present

question can hardly be divorced, is generally felt to

be a heavy and continuing burden, especially in times

such as the present when necessary works have to be

postponed from year to year. You are also probably

aware that the Volunteer Defence Force and the Naval

Volunteer Force are in constant need of expansion, and

that the Local Defence Committee is recommending a

programme of measures against gas attack which will cost

about a million dollars. The total contribution by the

Colony to the cost of its defence is, I believe, already

greater in proportion to its revenue than that of any

other Colony; nor does the present time seem a suitable

one for adding to this burden in a Colony that is only

beginning to emerge from a trade depression of a most

serious nature, while the home finances appear to be

in a flourishing condition.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

W.G.A.ORMSBY-GORE, P.C., M.P.,

&C.,

&c., &C.