CO129-608-7 Future policy- Report on Port Administration by Sir David Owen 24-2-1941 - 24-2-1941 — Page 126

APPENDIX I (E)

PRELIMINARY ESTIATE OF THE FINANCIAL EFFECT OF

THE FORMATION OF A PORT TRUST IN HONG KONG

1.

2.

Until decisions are taken as to the scope of the duties of the Port Trust, the method of recruitment and terms of service of its staff, and its financial relationship to Government, it is necessary to make a number of assumptions in order to determine whether and, if so, to what extent the formation of a Port Trust would increase the costs of administration, and whether such increased costs would by themselves necessitate an increase in the charges for the use of port facilities made by Government in normal pre- occupation circumstances.

3.

Accordingly for the purpose of the estimates given in this memorandum it has been assumed

(a) that the Port Trust would be a controlling as

distinguished from an operating authority

with the duties and the sources of revenue recommended by Sir David Owen;

(b) that the staff for the Port Trust would be found by the appointment of a Chairman (initially employed in a full-time capacity, but later probably engaged on a part-time basis) and a Secretary; and by the secondment of

(i) the Harbour Master, Deputy Harbour Master

(but not an Assistant Harbour Master), and those of the Harbour Master's staff, including clerical and accounting staff, employed on duties transferred from the Harbour Master to the Port Trust, in accord- ance with the division of duties recommended by the Consultative Committee in London, (vide Memorandum tabled on 9.9.46);

(ii) the Port Engineer and the personnel hitherto

employed in the Port Engineer's Section of the Public Works Department. In view of the possibility of an important programme of rehabilitation and development being inaugurated in the near future, it is thought that the post of Port Engineer would be a more important one than the post provided for at present. It is suggested that increased expenditure in the Port Engineer's Department would be directly charge- able to the improvements in facilities and would be recoverable, and should not affect the comparison between the costs of the different methods of administration.

(c) That the Government would provide legal and audit

services initially on an agency basis.

The form in which the Government Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure are presented is not designed to show comprehensively the charges against Harbour Services or a comparison with the revenue derived from them, and to enable an appreciation of the position to be formed a comparison is given below, based on the Estimates of 1941, of the Revenue and Expenditure of the prospective Port Trust, including an estimate of a number of items not normally directly allocated, but not including an estimate of the rent or interest charges which might be made by Government in respect of property taken over by the Port Trust: