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attractive.
(Be Andreu) As the liinister of State has indicated, the
sarrison of four and a third major units is regarded by ourselves and
Hong Kong as 2 minimm garrison, and in detemining that minimum account
has been taken of the fact that there is a battalion in Brunei which would
provide local reinforcements in an emergency which could get there quickly.
If a situation arises in some years' time when that battalion is no longer
available, we would obviously have to reconsider the matter and discuss it
with the Hong Kong Government. As I think was mentioned to you in Hong Kong
there are also plans to fly out a battalion from the United Kingdon as
emergency reinforcements, although this would obviously take longer than
moving a battalion from Erunei.
There is no reserve in Nepal? A. At the moment there are five
Gurkha battalions in Hong Kong, three in the United Kingdom and one in Brunei.
There is no reserve where they are trained? The young recruits are
not turned into a battalion? A. They are recruited in Nepal. If they are
going to the British Army they move to Hong Kong and then they go to
Brunei on the United Kingdom.
Q. It was made clear to us there was no reserve in Nepal which they
could call on in an emergency? A. No.
MR CONLAN:
Minister of State, will you accept that the prospects of an
agreement on defence costs providing for 50 per cent, 624 per cent and 75 ·
per cent of the total costs, is far better than any of us may have
anticipated from what we saw and heard in Hong Kong, and therefore you have
to be congratulated on reaching this position. Ian pleased to hear that
there is going to be a percentage arrangement in the Hong Kong contribution
because the difficulty in the Mast has been that the fixed promit of £3
million made no provision for inflation, and consequently the proportion
of the costs to be borne by the Hong Kong Government was getting pro@rossively
sneller. This should not happen in the future. A. (Rt. Hon. Millian Rodness.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.