TNAG-0543-FCO40-638-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 195

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CODE 18-77

WIN

Reference

GURKHAS IN HONG KONG

8. The proposed new force level in Hong Kong will contain 3 Gurkha infantry battalions and the other supporting troops in the Engineers, Signals and Transport Corps. This is very much as today. The major reductions in the stationed force level in Hong Kong are being found from the UK based forces. This highlights the great attraction of Gurkhas in Hong Kong which is their comparative cost. The costs which were given to the Hong Kong Government earlier in the year, using September 1974 prices, used the following examples:

9.

An (accompanied) UK battalion in Hong Kong (at approx 650 strong) £M3.8

An (accompanied) Gurkha battalion in Hong Kong (at approx 300 strong) £1.3

The obvious financial advantages were not lost on the Governor and his officials and they originally asked us to examine an "all Gurkha" solution. The LOD view was that this was undesirable on a number of grounds and the joint Hong Kong/ Whitehall Working Party in March this year rejected this option by stating that there must be at least one UK battalion in the new force level. A note on why an all Gurkha solution is unacceptable is at APpex B.

OTHER RELATED GURKHA MASTERS

10.

Gurkhas remain a very cost-effective part of the British Army, particularly when stationed in the Far East.

11. Nevertheless the Brigade of Gurkhas in Hong Kong carries with it a number of overheads since the whole recruiting, training, pension paying, leave, resettlement training and movenent organisation for Gurkhas falls within the ambit of the new Hong Kong cost sharing agreement. Most of these subjects for the UK based troops are not included in the new agreement.

12. Some of these support costs are influenced by factors outside the control of either HG or the Hong Kong Government. Two recent examples are:

a.

The Gurkha airtrooping to Nepal, which up to now has been done by RAF, will in future almost certainly have to be done by the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation; at a cost which will be considerably higher than that for a UK civil air charter contract.

b. The Nepalese authorities have indicated that they are taking a much stiffer line on the duty-free importation of stores to support the British Gurkha organisation in Nepal.

13. Both these points, which have yet to be resolved, will add to the costs of the Brigade of Gurkhas in Hong Kong. The September 1974 costs are now being updated, but there is no indication that these factors will (even in the worst case) do much to narrow the per capita differential between the costs of a UK soldier and a Gurkha soldier in Hong Kong.

CONVIDENTIAL

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