CO129-615-4 Harbour craft used by Hong Kong Government- financial arrangements 30-1-1948 - 12-1-1949 — Page 34

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(8)

(1)

in use by the Hong Kong Government in which

the Admiralty and War Office were interested,

but this is the only mention of such

interest we can trace. We have had no

reference of any kind from Hong Kong to the

Admiralty and War office claims referred to

in your letter of the 12th July and we have

likewise not received any proposal such

as you mention that the Secretary of State

should convene a meeting of interested

Departments, so that a lump sum payment

for small craft might be arrived at.

The Governor has however asked for our

assistance in negotiating with you and,

in doing so, has said that the grounds for

pressing for the payment to be scaled down

to a figure which accords with actual value

are as stated in his despatch No.19 of the

30th January 1948, to which he would add

that it is proving increasingly difficult

to obtain spares for many of the craft

and that the cost of maintenance of those which

are being retained in service is a heavy

drain.

6.

Before we can go much further it seems

to me that we must find out the views of the

Hong Kong Government about the Admiralty

and War Office claims and, in order that we

may be in a position to do this, it has

occurred to me that it might be useful and

saving of further time if an officer of my d

Department were to get together with one of

yours