Mr Deare Mr Harding
Chief Clerk
HKA 430/1
2 / OCT 1980
DID OFF.CP
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7
SUPPLEMENTARY MAINTENANCE BUDGET FOR GOVERNORS AND COMMISSIONERS
A
B
C
1. Following the inspector's reports on a number of British dependent territories in the West Indies, the Chief Clerk minuted that the FCO might consider some sort of supplementary maintenance budget for Governors and Commissioners, recognising that it would have to be a charge against the FCO vote. We are pursuing the general question separately, but in the meantime there is an urgent problem in the Turks and Caicos,
2.
The requirements is to provide £6,000 for a car for the Governor. The Turks and Caicos Government has not been moved by the Governor's request for the replacement of a broken down Princess 1800 which has been his only meaps of transport.
RECOMMENDATION
3. I recommend that Accommodation and Services Department should be asked to provide a suitable replacement car for the Governor as a top priority.
BACKGROUND
4.
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The inspector's report, dated June 1980, on the office of the Governor, Turks and Caicos Islands, refers in Section 17 to the lamentable state of the Governor's car. Without a suitable vehicle, he cannot fulfill his functions adequately. Though the Local Government should provide transport for the Governor, in practice they have shown themselves unwilling or unable to do so.
We have no hold over the TCI Government as they are not in receipt of grant-in-aid at present nor are likely to revert to it in the immediate future. The general living standards on the Turks and Caicos are poor and the inspectors have acknowledged that the Governor has a particularly difficult task to carry out. He and the British Government are frequently blamed for all the island's ills. up for all shortcomings of the TC
We therefore have a duty to make Government.
5. We understand the FCO budget for transportation for the current financial year might be able to cope with the provision of a car for the Turks and Caico, eg a Ford Granada 2.3 litre or similar. Given the difficult conditions under which the Governor lives and works, the TCI could claim a high degree of priority. The request is for the approval of the capital cost only as the Turks and Caicos Government will take responsibility for spares and maintenance. There will therefore be no recurrent costs to the FCO.
26 September 1980
cc:
Mr Lomas A&SD
Mr Braithwaite A&SD
ниот 400л
MLH Hope
West Indian and Atlantic Dept
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