CO129-592-9 Future Policy in Hong Kong- Port Administration 13-1-1945 - 4-3-1946 — Page 181

HONG KONG PORT CONTROL

Note of a meeting held at the Colonial Office

on 9th March.

5.

Present:-

Mr. Gent.

Mr. Caine.

Mr. Paskin. Mr. Mayle.

Mr. Cohen (at present M. W. T. but

Malayan Port Planner

designate)

Mr. W. M Thompson H.K. Planning

Mr. Rouse

Unit.

The main question at issue was whether any and if so what outside advice was necessary or desirable in order to enable a decision to be taken on the recommendations in the report of Sir David Owen (Printed copy at No. 1 on this file).

2.

It was pointed out that Sir David Owen's recommendations did not involve any radical alterations in the degree of public control to be exercised over the use and development of the Port, but was concerned mainly with the kind of Public Authority which should exercise that control. His main recommendation was that various functions which were distributed among a number of Government Departments should be centralised in a Harbour Authority to be called the Hong Kong Harbour Trust.

3.

The questions at issue are not therefore of the radical character of those which are under consideration in relation to the Malayan Ports, and it was agreed that there was no need to refer them to the Communications Sub-Committee of the E.A.C.

4. As to what other advice should be sought, it was agreed that we should consult M.W.T. and that a copy of our letter to that Department should be sent to the Admiralty in order to give that Department an opportunity to comment if they so desire.

5. As regards the comments on policy to be included in the letter to the M.W.T. it was agreed that, as we have on record the Governor's despatch of 15/8/41 (No. 7 on 53995/1/41) recommending the adoption of the Report (with some comparatively insignificant modifications) after full discussion locally, and as we in the Colonial Office see no reason to dissent from that recommendation, it should be stated in the letter to the M.W.T. that, subject to their concurrence, it is proposed to adopt the recommendations in the Report subject to the modifications proposed by the Governor.

6.

Hitherto we had been disposed to think that the question of the renewal of the private wharf leases, which are due to expire in 1949, was bound up with the question of the adoption of the recommendations in the Owen Report. It is however now agreed that that is not the case, and that the question of the wharf leases can be considered separately.

7. As regards the machinery for considering that and other matters relating to the rehabilitation of the port and harbour services, it was agreed that, if it is decided to adopt the Owen Report, the best course would be to appoint, as soon as possible, a full-time paid Chairman designate of the new Port Trust, and that he should be provided with a small staff to get on with the planning in much the same way as Mr. Cohen and his staff are beginning to plan for the restoration of the Port and Harbour Service at Singapore and Penang. This planning would have to include the earmarking and engagement of staff to perform the

functions