(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
DRAFT letter
Samret.
Secret.
Confidenţat.
Restricted. Uncleesified.
PRIVACY MARKING
..In Confidence
SECRET
Type 1 +
From
To:-
Sir David Trench, GCMG, MC,
Government House,
HONG KONG
Sir Leslie Monson
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
cc E. H. Gwynn,
Esq., C.B.,
LMOD
R. Gealing, Treasury
wont,
In his letter (HKK 10/9) of 31 July, Carter mentioned
that I would be writing to you about the negotiation of
the post-1971 defence contribution. As he indicated, we
think your suggestion of preliminary exchanges at
"official" level to be a very good one, but you will
want to consider the matter with knowledge of how we
see the problem at this end.
2. When you had your discussion with the Defence
Secretary on 25 June you knew, I think, that the
garrison which had been proposed here consisted of
7 major Army units, 5 mine countermeasure vessels,
helicopter 2 frigates, a Whirlwind/unit and RAF general support
(together possibly with a Hunter unit), but you have
not been told the costs of such a force.
3. I attach at Annex A a schedule of the forces proposed
and the best estimate we can make of their costs, from
which it appears that the running costs in 1971-72 would
be about £20M a year. (This compares with running costs
of about £15M in 1966.) The cost would increase if the
proportion of British troops in the garrison were
increased. The schedule does not allow for any price
increases between now and 1971 (let alone during the currency of a new agreement) nor for the increased cost
of the new Service pay structure which is expected to be
introduced next year, but which we cannot yet cost. In
addition to the running costs in Hong Kong there would
SECRET
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