FIN. TIMES
Hong Kong seeks more autonomy over reserves
BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
SIR DAVID TRENCH, Governor of Hong Kong, left to-day by air for London where he will be joined Monday by the colony's financial secretary, Mr. J. J. Cowperthwaite.
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Their main objective will be to persuade the Treasury (and the Bank of England) to grant Hong Kong a greater degree of financial autonomy in the control of the colony's foreign reserves-which at present have to be held in Britain.
Sterling holdings
They cannot hope for a carte blanche for gradual diversification is probably too much to expect, since these amount to about £350m.. a sizeable proportion of Britain's exchange reserves. They would be more than satisfied with some sort of guarantee against any possible future devaluation of sterling.
Even if they succeed in obtaining this, considerable resentment will persist in Hong Kong over its exclusive tics with sterling.
Also for discussion will be the amount of help Britain is prepared to give in extending Hong Kong's airport to take the large jets of the future. Work on this is due to start later this year and London has so far prevaricated on the issue.
Here again there is resentment since Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport is of considerable use to Britain's flag carrier BOAC in bargaining for foreign lading rights and Hong Kong has turned away would-be carriers at BOAC's request.
Representations will also be made with regard to the stringent condi- tions laid down by the Board of Trade's Export Credit Guarantee. Department on the terms for its backing the building of Hong Kong's cross harbour tunnel.
Costain's of Britain are likely to get the main contract for this, Kong company sponsoring the and representatives of the Hong tunnel have flown to London to lobby in its favour
World Bank talks
Mr. J. J. Cowperthwaite will arrive in London after a week in the U.S. where he has once again broached the World Bank who have twice rejected Hong Kong's desire for some long-term credits
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schemes or to set up a development finance its larger proposed bank,
Sir David departed amid specu- lation about the man who will succeed him next year.
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A draft Trench has been launched by Chinese campaign
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HONG KONG, April 24. organisations in Hong Kong who hope that Sir David will be invited to serve a second term. David's friends point out that his But Sir
health has been giving some cause for anxiety lately and it is not considered likely that he would accept such an invitation after five colony's post-war history. of the most trying years in the
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