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the efficiency of the service. In the recent settlement
of the Tientsin Pulow Railway default, such an appointment
was provided for and I am sorry to learn that no interest
has been taken in this proposal by the Departments and the
banks concerned at home and that difficulty is being
experienced in finding any candidate for the post. I think
that the British and Chinese Companies should take steps to
compile a list of possible candidates for such appointments.
(7) Boxer Indemnity Agreement.
The Anglo-Chinese Indemnity Agreement of 1930
has enabled us to secure some very valuable orders for
railway equipment. But I found considerable, and
apparently justifiable, complaint both as to the prices
charged and as to the serviceability of the goods supplied.
This latter complaint related particularly to the large
order for Vulcan locomotives for the Canton-Hankow Railway.
Full details have, I understand, been reported to the
Department of Overseas Trade and the complaints should
be carefully investigated with a view to securing a
tightening up of the system, so as to obviate similar
difficulties in the future.
The China Indemnity Fund also provides for a
number of Chinese students to be sent to British Universities
for education. This is a most valuable use of the fund
as every Chinese returned student tends to be a propagandist
for the country in which he has studied and the majority
of Chinese students are at present trained in the United
States of America, Germany or Japan. The British Council
should be invited to consider, with the organisations of
British Manufacturers, whether they can arrange facilities
for more students to study here, particularly in the
various branches of engineering, or if that is not possible,
whether they could endow British lecturers or provide
engineering equipment for Chinese Universities. Such
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