TNAG-1107-FCO40-1358-Inspection-of-the-British-Trade-Commission--Hong-Kong--in-Fe-1981 — Page 54

M J Towsey Esq Matta4 Accommodation and Services

Department.

APM 400/6 (18)

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ADM 410/6

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AIR CONDITIONING

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Thank you for your letter XAA 424/3931/4 of 25 March about air conditioning standards in Hong Kong. mic: The de Cant nutsone

2. We seem to have come full circle. Correspondence about air conditioning began with my letter of 18 June 1980 to Delia Walker in POD (forwarding a completed questionnaire on local living conditions) in which I drew attention to the low THI marking allocated to a post such as Hong Kong where high humidity is such an unpleasant feature of life in the summer months. As I enclosed up-to-date figures for mean temperature and mean relative humidity recorded by the Royal Observatory in Hong Kong for the period January 1975 to 1980, it seems odd to write to the PSA nearly one year later to obtain essential climatic data.

3. My main point is that it is wrong to use the THI index on a mean annual basis. As I said in my letter of 30 July to Miss Walker, it is rather like arguing that fires are not necessary in the United Kingdom from November to February because it is warm from May to September. I think the figures enclosed with earlier letters demonstrate that the hot, humid season persists in Hong Kong from the end of March to the beginning of October and merits the installation of adequate air conditioning and provision for running expenses in the allowances.

4. I do indeed base a bid for the installation of air conditioning in living and dining areas on representational grounds. confirm that I know of no consular colleague or senior business contact likely to entertain or be entertained by me or my Trade Commissioners who does not benefit from air conditioning in his living area during the summer months. I shall therefore again ask the inspectors when they visit us next year to assess the case for the provision of air conditioned living and dining rooms for all officers with representational responsibilities.

5. In my own case there is an additional complexity which will become increasingly commonplace. Because my whole house is centrally air conditioned, I have no choice but to air condition

/living