TNAG-0307-FCO40-343-Costs-of-extra-services-provided-by-armed-forces-of-UK-in-Ho-1971 — Page 28

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15,00-4/71-B86483

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SCR 26/64 II

Your Ref. HKK 10/5

CONFIDENTIAL

REGISTRY M. 51

23 NOV 1971

HKKIO/S

15

COLONIAL SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

12th November, 1971.

I must apologise that, as a result of my lengthy but temporary absence from the "desk" dealing with the financial aspects of defence, you have inadvertently not had an answer to your letter of 1st April 1971 on the £118 paid as additional allowances for other ranks on standby duty.

2.

The easiest way for me to answer your questions is to relate what happened. Finance Committee on 17th December 1969 approved, with some reluctance, funds sufficient to reimburse the British Government for expenditure arising directly from work undertaken by the Armed Forces at the Hong Kong Government's request and from the extra battalion brought to Hong Kong from Singapore to reinforce the internal security force. The Committee was not prepared to vote funds to meet three items of additional expenditure incurred by the internal security garrison as a result of the emergency. Members' reasoning was that the expenditure could be considered as arising out of an internal security situation for the policing of which by a garrison of an agreed size the Hong Kong Government was already contributing.

3.

We then held a meeting with the Command Secretary to consider further the items Finance Committee had disallowed. As we were unlikely to be able to shift members of Finance Committee from their doctrinal position, we looked for ways of diverting their attention. On closer examination, one item of expenditure turned out to derive largely from the extra battalion thus enabling us to remove it from the doctrinal arena altogether. For another, the expenditure was being split between the two Governments and we were able to dress it up with details on how the charges were divided and to hint at the compromise underlying such an arrangement. But the additional allowances for troops seemed to present insuperable doctrinal problems. To help us avoid another confrontation with Finance Committee on doctrine and, in the process, to help us presentationally

A.W. Gaminara, Esq., C.M.G.,

Hong Kong Department,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London S.W. 1.

/ with

1271

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21 It wait return of file

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from immance Scor.

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