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A Note by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Paper C.P.412 (28)) covering telegraphic correspondence with His Majesty's Minister in Peking, who stated that the Nanking Government would be only too ready to agree to any terms within reason we might attach to uncon- ditional surrender, and suggested that the best thing to work for would be a voluntary declaration by the Chinese
of their intention to apply the recommendation of the
Advisory Committee in its entirety, plus an undertaking
to place such orders as might arise thereunder in regard
to railway construction, conservancy work, etc., in
Great Britain. Sir Miles Lampson also in this corres-
pondence expressed the conviction that the effect of
devoting the accumulated deposits to the assistance of
Hong Kong University would be bad.
In the course of the discussion emphasis was laid
on the importance of Sir Miles Lampson's proposal that the
best thing to work for would be a voluntary declaration by
the Chinese of their intention, inter alia, to give an
undertaking to place such orders as might arise, in regard
to railway construction, conservancy work, etc., in Great
Britain. The attention of the Cabinet was also called to the
fact that Belgium, Holland and Italy had surrendered their
balance on condition of its being used on constructive works
of