MEMORANDUM.
117
A summary of the policy of His Majesty's
Government towards the Boxer Indemnity in recent
years will be found in paragraph 3 of the Foreign
Office memorandum (No.25 on 52708//28). That
memorandum proposed a new policy, that is, the
unconditional return to China of the accumulated
balances and unpaid instalments of the Boxer
Indemnity. Mr. Amery replied with a memorandum
to the Cabinet (No.26 on 52708) urging, as the
Colonial Office had done repeatedly in the last few
years, the claims of Hong Kong University to a
substantial share of the Boxer Indemnity funds.
A memorandum was also submitted by the Treasury
and a counter memorandum by the Foreign Office
(Nos.30 and 37 on 52708). After consider ing all
these views the Cabinet reached the conclusion
recorded in No.38 on 52708 approving generally the
proposals of the Foreign Office with, however, a
recommendation that an attempt should be made to
secure something for Hong Kong University. It was
suggested by the Foreign Office that this something
should be fixed at £200,000 (see 2 of this file).
We consulted Sir C. Clementi who naturally suggested
a larger allocation and we passed on his suggestion
with a somewhat qualified support to the Foreign Office
(Nos.8, 12 and 13). They eventually agreed to the
allocation being increased to £250,000. The Chinese
agreed to this when the matter was broached to them
rather more readily than we expected and even
suggested