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6.
(e) Unaccompanied tours for UK battalions.
Whereas Gurkha Battalions are geared to only one three year accompanied tour in a man's first twelve years of service, the M.O.D. view was that there would be insurmountable problems of both morale and cost of deploying UK battalions to Hong Kong on an unaccompanied basis, except as emergency reinforcements.
(h) Schools. There should be a joint examination of the
system whereby the 4,000 Service children (1,000 Gurkha and 3,000 British) were educated in Service schools to which about 400 children whose parents were not servicemen were admitted, to see whether advantages could be gained by closer integrations of the two systems. It was stated that there was no objection in principle to such an arrangement. It was noted that the Services were intending to close one primary school and cut back on 30 to 40 teachers. The Hong Kong team would examine the possibility of running such schools.
(i) Hospital. As with schools, the BMH was noted
as an area for joint study, bearing in mind the future probable underutilization of beds, and its close proximity to a crowded Government hospital. Joint staffing is one possibility.
(j) Other Welfare Services. It did not appear feasible
to subject WVS, NAAFI and other small welfare services to further examination. It was noted that NAAFI is self-financing, apart from accommodation.
(k) Income Tax. Mr. Davies enquired what UK proposed
to do about income tax if the Hong Kong Government foots 75% of the cost of the Garrison. Although this reflects the net cost to HMG it was pointed out that the UK defence budget itself did not benefit. Though Mr. Hansford thought there was no intention of changing the policy to allow servicemen to pay llong Kong tax, Mr. Bryars agreed that this item needed further examination. Note: A very cursory examination by HQLF indicated that an annual sum of £1.3m. might be paid by the Servicemen of the proposed future garrison.
(i) Capital costs, RN. It was agreed that capital
costs of new patrol craft should be examined jointly in greater depth, but it was noted that the first cost would not be incurred for at least two years so this item could be set aside. Commodore Perowne stressed that the HMS Mermaid is the cheapest option that can be provided for the Chichester's replacement. Mr. Davies wondered whether the Mermaid could be nade available earlier. It was agreed that M.O.D.
should be asked to consider whether a cheaper
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