Sessional_Paper_1896 — Page 463

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9. It is satisfactory to note that the Unofficial Members have raised no objec- tion to the principle of appropriating a percentage of 17 per cent. of the Colonial Revenues to the use of the Imperial Government as a Military Contribution, and I trust that, if it is possible to meet their wishes as regards some of the details to which attention has been drawn in their Memorandum, this much-vexed question will be at last satisfactorily and finally settled.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient,

humble Servant,

WILLIAM ROBINSON.

Enclosure 1.

MEMORANDUM on the Military Contribution by the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council of Hongkong, submitted for the considera- tion of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

When it was first proposed that the Colonies should contribute towards the expenses incurred by the Imperial Government in the maintenance of a Military Force in the respective Colonies, the inhabitants of Hongkong cheerfully acquiesced, and the Members of Council readily voted the sum of £20,000 a year-the amount originally levied on this Colony. When the Military Contribution was raised from £20,000 to £40,000 on the promise of a larger garrison to be stationed here the Council voted the increase without hesitation, and there was no opposition until it was discovered that the enhanced contribution was claimed and insisted upon before any addition had been made to the forces in garrison or any extra expense incurred by the Imperial Treasury on that account. Later on when the heavy fall

in exchange, while leaving the sterling amount of the contribution untouched, had raised its equivalent in dollars to an amount wholly out of proportion to the revenues of the Colony,-from $254,211.00 in 1891 to $384,000.00 in 1895,-the Secretary of State was respectfully requested to reconsider the whole subject and to reduce the amount of the Military Contribution to a figure which would re- establish something like a reasonable proportion between the general revenue and the military tax. The same question was raised at the same time in the Straits Settlements and in other Crown Colonies, and was so strongly pressed on the attention of the Imperial Government that within the last year it was determined to accept from the Eastern Colonies a fixed percentage of their revenues instead, of claiming from them each year a sterling amount of an invariable character.

For the Straits Settlements and for Hongkong the proportion of the Military Contribution to the general revenue was fixed at 17 per centumn, and in the adjust ment of the amount to be paid for the current year the question at once presented itself in both Colonies as to what constituted general revenue. In the Straits Settlements it was conceded by the Secretary of State that the municipal revenue raised in Singapore should not be included in the general revenue of the Straits Settlements for the purpose of calculating the amount of the Military Contribution. So far as Hongkong was concerned the Colonial Office decided that the 17 per cent. was to be taken out of the gross total revenue, deducting only the amounts received as premia on the sale of Crown Lands, and that there was no deduction to be allowed on account of items of revenue claimed to be of the same class and character as those exempted from taxation in Singapore as being purely municipal.