C.R.O.
File No.
NUMBER OF DUPLICATES
SECURITY
MARKING
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
For Signature by :Sir A. Snelling
Telephone Extension :.
PRIORITY
MARKING
NUMBER OF ENCLOSURES
Sir A. Snelling..
10/3
Aws
To:
5
Parly. U.S. of S. Minister of State Secretary of State
Printing
Sir Anthony Percival, C.B.,
Export Credits
Guarantee Department,
59-67 Gresham Street,
E.C.2.
•
Further Action
Copy with encl.
to:
M.S.Morris, Esq.,
Room 318,
/Trade,
1 Victoria St.
Special Instructions
Date of Issue
Cross-Harbour Tunnel:
Hong Kong
When I was in Hong Kong at the beginning
of this week I was approached by the Hon. J.D. Clague who has been opening the tenders for the cross harbour tunel. He told me
h
that Costains stood a good chance of getting
this ₤13 m. contract if the terms of their
offer could be improved in certain respects.
Eventually he let me have a note about the
position on a strictly confidential basis and I enclose a copy of it.
After talking to Cotterill, I saw last
night Sowden, the man dealing with the matter in Costains, and gave him the gist of the two improvements in the Costains' offer which Clague was seeking, viz., that the credit offer
should cover 75 per cent of the contract + should reen for
first
price or71⁄2 years from the completion of
second
construction; and that the requirement should be withdrawn for a joint and several guarantee of all payments by the two firms who are the major participants in the Cross Harbour Tunnel Company Ltd.
Sowden's views were as follows:-
(a) He thinks that Clague's request that
the credit terms should cover as much
as 75 per cent of the contract price
is in the nature of a bazaar-haggle and
that it ought to be possible to settle
a percentage somewhere between 75 per cent
/and
(E5827) WI 31563-P271 100m 9/63 V.B. Gp 791
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