6
8
439
TOTAL OF AVAILABLE Fund.
21. The details of the Fund are given in the Report of the Delegation, p. 7. The monthly instalments in respect of the Indemnity date from December 1922, and will continue until December 1945. The total amount of the money available during this period is, in round figures, £7,000,000 as regards principal, and Omitting £4,250,000 in respect of interest; the actual total is £11,186,547. the period ending December 1922, which is negligible, there will be an average annnal receipt during the twenty-two years remaining of (in round figures) £301,000 on account of principal, and £184,000 in respect of interest, or (taken together) of about £185,000. By December 1926 a sum of about a million and three-quarters will have accumulated from the unexpended amount received from the instalments of the Indemnity Fund since December 1922. This amount is at present on deposit in the Bank.
22. The total sum involved of 11 millions, though considerable from the point of view of the British tax-payer, who is relinquishing all claim to it, is small when applied to so vast an area as the whole of the Chinese Republic. The Delegation would have desired that their personal investigations could have been more extensive and comprehensive. They trust that many of their proposals will benefit China as a whole; others, more local in character, are also recommended as of special urgency or importance. It is the intention of the Advisory Committee that the Fund shall be applied to China as a whole, and that every endeavour shall be made equitably to meet the needs of the various provinces.
PROPOSALS OF BRITISH MEMBERS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE,
23. In view of the decision to send three British members as a Delegation for the Advisory Committee to China, to be joined there by their Chinese colleagues, the British Members of the Advisory Committee in England (including the British members of the Delegation) held several informal meetings in order to discuss the various points which would be likely to come before the Delegation.
24. A Memorandum was drawn up by the Chairman in December 1925 detailing and dealing with these points, which was circulated to all the Members of the Committee, and was considered and adopted by the British Members before the Delegation proceeded to China. The Memorandum is printed herewith,* and it will be seen that it formed the basis of the Delegation's Report.
25. The Chairman's Memorandum was subsequently endorsed by the Chinese Members, and was furnished to the Members of the Delegation as a document for their use. It was, however, the view of the Advisory Committee that the Delegation should be given a free hand, and that the Memorandum should be considered in the light rather of information and suggestion than as Instructions or Terms of Reference.
26. It appears to the Advisory Committee that the best and simplest way of dealing with the whole question is to summarise the Report of the Delegation, and to state, with reference to each item, in what respects the Advisory Committee agree with, or dissent from, or desire to modify or to add to the proposals of the Delegation, either in substance or in detail. The decisions to which the Committee have come will be presented to the Secretary of State for his consideration.
27. The proposals of the Delegation are not necessarily taken in the order in which they appear in their Report.
OBJECTS TO BE BORNE IN MIND.
28. The views held by the British Members of the Advisory Committee when, as a whole, they were considering the various questions involved, and the principles and policy on which they desired to recommend that the application of the Fund should be based, are clearly set out in the Chairman's Memorandum referred to in paragraphs 24-25 above :--
* Printed separately: "China," Confidential Print, December 29, 1925, Section 2.
PART II.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF DELEGATION.
I. ADMINISTRATION AND CONTROL OF FUND,
(1.) Board of Trustees.
34. The proposals under this head made by the Delegation are set out on pp. 80-81 of their Report.
The main proposal is as follows:-
(1.)-I.
1. In order that the object of His Britannic Majesty's Government in returning the balance of the China Indemnity to the Chinese people may be most effectively and conveniently carried out, a Board of Trustees for the China Indemnity Fund shall be established in China, to which the control and administration of the said fund shall be entrusted.
2. As soon as the said Board of Trustees is organised the present Advisory
Committee shall be dissolved.
(2.) VI.
1. The Board shall have complete power to apply the Indemnity Fund to such educational and other purposes and to make such investments for the perpetuation of the fund as the Board may from time to time determine in accordance with the general scheme and principles laid down by the Advisory Committee.
2. For the purpose of advising and assisting the Board in making specific grants and in studying and executing specific projects, sub-committees may be formed, and competent persons outside the Board may be engaged to serve on such sub-committees.
(3.)—VIII.
1. After the end of each financial year, the Board shall cause to be prepared a report of the receipts and expenditure in that year in respect of the China Indemnity Fund. A copy of this report shall be submitted to each of the Governments of China and Great Britain.
2. The Governments of Great Britain and China may each send an observer
to attend the meetings of the Board of Trustees.
35. This proposal was communicated from China by the Chairman of the Delegation on their behalf to Lord Buxton with a request for urgent consideration. The Delegation emphasised the proposal as one which would meet the Chinese point of view, and would remove any suspicion that existed that the money would not be expended for the benefit of China, while its adoption would greatly facilitate the work of the Delegation by making it clear that the funds would be administered by a body in China imbued with Chinese views, and not in England under a Committee largely British in complexion and outlook.
36. The members of the Advisory Committee in England at once met and endorsed the proposal, and the Chairman communicated with the Secretary of State.
37. He was thereupon authorised to send the following telegram to Lord Willingdon
The Secretary of State is anxious to demonstrate British goodwill to, and trust in the Chinese nation as a whole. He therefore authorises me to state that, if the Delegation unanimously report in the sense of paragraphs I, VI (1) aud VIII (1) of the draft plan (given above), and if subsequently the Advisory Committee endorse these proposals, he would be prepared to accept the principle
* See paragraplı 34.
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