CO129-560-2 Air Ministry- requirements of land at Kai Tak Aerodromes 8-1-1937 - 5-2-1938 — Page 3

3

x

In this! of HK

the

these and of counse

They understood that apart from repayment of

the actual disbursements which the Hong Kong

Government had to make to obtain for the

x

R.A.F. the particular lands which they desired,

moste vatruth areas, by e.g. resumptions, formations, etc., it was not

the few Flat fits in

an ands of mountain.

inh

X

the Colony's usual custom to charge the Air

Ministry with a premium for the user of the

land as would be charged to a private lessee

obtaining a Crown lease in the ordinary way;

but the Treasury suggested that supposing the

cost of resumptions included the cost of

buying-out (including repayment of a premium)

someone already occupying the land required),

it would appear that the Air Ministry, in

repaying these costs to the Colonial Government,

were in fact paying a premium.

Further, the

Treasury thought that the payment by the Air

Ministry of 25 years' Consolidated Crown Lease

should be regarded as giving them virtually a

freehold of the property and not merely the free

user, and that the Air Ministry should be at

liberty to dispose of the land themselves, when

they no longer required it, at a suitable price,

either to the Colonial Government or to some

other party.

It was finally agreed that further

information was needed as to the details of

"costs of resumption", so that the criticism

could be further examined. The Treasury will

communicate with us in due course, and we can

await their letter.

Before the meeting I discussed with

Mr. Bridges and Mr. Caines (Air Ministry) the

question of the amount of contribution which

could