CO129-625-3 Hong Kong University- rehabilitation (1950) 1-1-1950 - 31-1-1951 — Page 103

n page 9 of the Report of the Visitors, this grant as you know

a

ormed part of the general financial settlement between His

Majesty's Government and the Government of Hong Kong.

Accordingly the provision in Colonial Office Votes

must take the form of a grant in aid to the Government of

ong Kong and the terms of the Vote as approved by

Parliament requires that the issue should be supported

by audited accounts and with any report thereon by the

Director General of Colonial Audit. It is recognised that

some inconvenience might result if payment of this grant

and payments in respect of C.D. & W. schemes were dealt

with by different authorities particularly as money from

both sources will be used on related capital works. While it

is not possible, in view of the terms prescribed by

Parliament to vary the condition that in the former case

,

payment would have to be through the Government of Hong

Kong there would be no objection in principle to the

University administering the expenditure from the grant

provided the audit condition can be fully met. In

this connexion regard must be had to paragraph 2 (c)

of the enclosed memorandum of July, 1948. It would

seem that the best course for the University to pursue in

order to avoid the necessity of having to distinguish

between expenditure from the C.D. & W. grant and from

the grant promised in the 1948 Financial Settlement

would be to arrange for its accounts to be subject to

audit by the Director General of Colonial Audit so as

to ensure that they were in a form acceptable in audit

for United Kingdom purposes. In this case the University

could submit one account covering capital expenditure ranking against (a) the grant under the Financial

Settlement

12