CO129-598-2 Tai Lam Chung Reservoir Project 24-6-1948 - 3-3-1949 — Page 7

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let alone

Kowloon,

twe are told in the despatch that the capital world be recouped well within

but it the fifty years, remains true that the completed asset, with all its future revenue leaving capa- city, would be handed over to China.

field, and I can only hope that my remarks will not be regarded as presumptuous.

3. We have here a proposal to increase and safeguard Hong Kong's water supply by the construction of a reservoir in the New Territories. I understand that the lease of these Territories extends for another 50 years, and that there is no kind of guarantee that we shall be able to prevent their reversion to China after that date. I have frequently heard it said that it is useless to suppose that we can hold on to Hong Kong Island after the New Territories have gone back to China, because the former is already hopelessly dependent on the latter for water supplies. The last sentence of paragraph 5 of No.1. bears this out; yet we are here faced with a proposal to develop water supplies in a manner which will merely increase that dependence! Surely this needs careful consideration from a great many aspects.

4. If there is absolutely no alternative to the present proposal, then I agree that we must go ahead regardless of the long term consequences.

I do not dispute the evidence in the despatch that the existing water reserves are dangerously inadequate. The despatch does not convince me, however, that there is indeed no alternative to be found. On the contrary, there is a possible site for a reservoir on the Island itself. We are told (paragraph 4 of the despatch) that this site would entail a high expenditure in relation to the quantity of water conserved, and that it would necessitate the inundation of a large area of land already developed or capable of development. These are undoubted disadvantages, but are they really so great as the disadvantages of turning into a certainty the likelihood that Hong Kong, without the New Territories, cannot survive? Even from the strictly financial point of view, is the disadvantage of creating a reservoir which would "entail a high expenditure in relation to the quantity of water conserved" to be compared with the disadvantage of pouring between £4 millions and £6 millions into a reservoir which in 50 years time will become the property of an alien Government? It may be (though the despatch does not say so) that the site on the Island would not be large enough to go the whole way in solving the problem with which Hong Kong is faced. Even so, might it not go part of the way, and might this not be very useful? Might it not be possible by these means to ensure at least that the Island is self- supporting, even if Kowloon were to remain dependent on the New Territories?

5. I must apologise for putting up this barrage of questions and also for reopening the matter so late in the day. I have now seen the file, however, for the first time, since I was on leave when the discussion, recorded in Mr. Sidebotham's minute of 12.7.48 took place. the whole matter ought tô be

feel that

considered on a rather

broader/