CO129-611-5 Development Secretariat- appointment of registrar of Co-operatives 10-3-1947 - 10-3-1948 — Page 55

I further observe, however, that Harding's letter to you No.19275/92/47 of the 18th June makes the important reservation that further consultation with the various Departments concerned of the Colonial Office would be necessary before anything could be said about the general application of these proposals to territories (other than the West Indian colonies) which are Treasury-controlled. This consultation has not yet taken place, “and I cannot therefore commit myself one way, or the other in this letter in regard to the suggestion in your letter that we should con- sider whether the post of Registrar of Co-operatives should be charged to Hong Kong's C.D. & W. allocation, or in regard to the implied suggestion that we should consider whether the cost of the Development Secretariat and its officers ought to be met, either in whole or in part, by C.D. & W. monies. It is however necessary that we should reply without further delay to Sir Mark Young's staff despatch No.43 of the 10th of March, a copy of which was enclosed in my letter to you of the 5th of June, about the appointment of a Registrar of Co-operatives, and I hope therefore that you will not object to our sending off at once the despatch of which the draft was also anclosed in my letter, on the understanding that this will be without prejudice to an eventual decision on the question of the source from which the funds will be provided.

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At the same time I think I should comment briefly in this letter on the statement in the second paragraph of your letter of the 16th June to the effect that the Development Segretariat in Hong Kong, owing to the nature of its activity, would be a patentlys suitable charge on C.D. & W. funds. I cannot agree

that

.G