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F 7121/3262/10.
OUT FILE
sir,
FOREIGN OFFICE,
S..1.
27th July, 1939.
306
I am directed by Viscount Halifax to stete that he
has recently had under consideration the question of the
evacuation in the event of war of Chinese students who are
at present in this country.
2. While His Majesty's Government do not consider
that they would be justified in suggesting that all Chinese
students should in the matter of evacuation plans be placed in a preferential position vis-à-vis other foreign students,
they do feel themselves to be under a moral obligation to
ensure the same treatment for two classes of students
as would be accorced to British students. Included in
these two categories are the 24 engineering apprentices
who have come to this country under the auspices of the
Federation of British Industries.
3. Lord Halifax will accordingly be grateful to learn
whether the Federation of British Industries have borne in
mind the position of these apprentices, who are not in a
position readily to return to their own country, and whether
any plans for their evacuation have been made by the
individual institutions to which they are attached or by
the Federation of British Industries the selves. If such
plans have not been made and if the Federation of British
Industries do not consider it nossible to assume
The General Secretary,
Federation of British Industries,
21, Tothill Street,
S.W.1.
responsibility/
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