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19 FEBRUARY 1931
China Indemnity
aside an appropriate amount for educa- tion, the balance of the Indemnity Fund is to be applied on the one hand to the rehabilitation of the internal transport system of China, an object which is important and desirable from the point of view of trade in China, in this country and throughout the Empire, and on the other hand to giving orders to our de- pressed heavy industries. There is a further sum of slightly less than £8,000,000 which is payable by the Chinese Govern- ment between 22nd December last and 31st December, 1945, when the indemnity payments are due to cease. About one- half of this sum is to be allocated to the Chinese Government Purchasing Commis- sion in London and is to be applied in the same manner as the £3.000,000 which has already accumulated for the purchase of material for China which must be manu- factured in this country. I agree with that proposal also, but the other half of this £8.000.000 is to be paid to a Board of Trustees to be appointed by the Chinese Government, and it is to func- tion in China. That money is to be ap- plied to objects which are described as mutually beneficial to China and the United Kingdom. It does not follow that a single penny of that money will ever come to this country, and by my Amend- ment I simply substitute the words "British Empire" for "United King- dom."
It
My Amendment does not apply to any part of that £7,000,000 which is being allocated to the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission in London. applies to the. £4,000,000 which is at the disposal of the Board of Trustees in China. If my Amendment were accepted it would mean that purchases of Aus- tralian hardwood for railway sleepers might be made by the Board of Trustees in China. Australia is rapidly building up a valuable trade with China, a trade which is almost entirely in commodities which do not compete in any way with the trade between this country and China. In the years 1924-25 the exports from the Commonwealth of Australia to China were of the value of £525,000, and in the following year they rose to £746,000. Owing to the disturbances in China, they fell in 1926-27 to £410,000, and in the following year to £310,000, but in 1928-29 they jumped to more than £1,117,000. Thus we see the remarkable increase in the trade between Australia
(Application) Bill.
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and China over a short period, despite internal disturbances in China. Aus- tralian hardwood sleepers are well known in China. The railway from Canton to Hong Kong is in two sections, one Chinese and the other British, and the whole of this line was built from sleepers from New South Wales. All the sleeper replacements since the beginning of that line have always been made from timber from New South Wales. This fact will prove the suitability of this timber for this purpose.
Another line which runs northwards from Shanghai is laid partly on sleepers from Western Australia, which have also been used on all the re- placements. There is a further line from Shanghai which is laid wholely or partly on Tasmanian sleepers.
I do not wish to dwell on the serious" economic crisis which is confronting Aus- tralia. Never before in the history of the Commonwealth has she been in such dire need of orders from overseas. A considerable quantity of sleepers, I have no doubt, will be necessary in the materials which the Chinese Government will purchase with the £7,000,000 which is to be expended entirely on the manu- factures of this country, and if the hon. Gentleman can see his way to accept the Amendment, I can assure him that all those who are interested in the welfare of Australia and in the building up of the progressing trade between the dominion and China, will be extremely grateful to him.
Mr. HANNON: I beg to second the Amendment.
The case which was made out by my hon. Friend must have appealed to the Under-Secretary of State. The House is gratified at the way in which the hon. Gentleman has dealt with this question since the Bill came before the House. There are not many things on which we can congratulate him, but the process of this Bill through the House, the attitude of the hon. Gentleman towards the Bill, and the response which he has given to appeals made from this side of the We House, has earned our gratitude. want a declaratory statement in the Bill that part of the money which is recover- able before
and 1945,
is at the disposal of the Chinese Government for expenditure overseas, shall as far as possible, be expended in the British Empire. I associate myself with my hon.