CO129-619-4 Department of Supplies- Trade and Industry- organization and finance 19-3-1949 - 31-3-1949 — Page 32

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received and any documents forwarded from the R.E. or other military

depots in India were hopelessly vague; more often than not they bore

no relation whatever to the original Procurement Programme agreed in

the planning stage.

It is true that it has not yet been decided between the War

Office and the Colonial Office whether the Hong Kong Government should

pay for these rehabilitation materials, and it is possible that we

will not have to, but unfortunately it is our clear duty to keep the

best records possible and to attempt, even against insuperable odds,

to relate them to our original programme.

Staff to do this is

essential.

I do not feel justified in asking for three Executive Officers,

but I consider that with one senior S.C. & A. Staff and three or four

Government Clerks (J.C.S. Class 3 and 4) I may be able to manage; in

the meantime you have given me Mr. Jenkins, so that the outstanding

commitment here is for 3 or 4 good Chinese clerks. I have now been

informed that B.O.R.s are leaving within a week and I must have

Chinese clerks immediately in order that they can get some insight into

the records before the B.O.R.s leave.

(iii)

Price Control.

Too little, in my opinion, has been done about moulding this

important section into a small but cohesive striking force against the

rising cost of living in the Colony.

During the military period this

section confined its activities to controlling prices of those

commodities (mostly Government) which had been imported in sufficient

quantities to provide a reasonable distribution on a population basis;

it has waged only a sniping campaign against the great mass of other

commodities (mainly essential) imported by commercial firms in the

Colony. This sniping campaign, is in my opinion, valueless because,

although it has involved the examination of invoices covering a large

list of imported commodities and an agreement with importers about

their commissions and those of the retailer, in practice it has

effected little, because there never has been the inspector staff to

supervise ultimately the activities of the retailer.