To this end you may, therefore wish to consider whether some form of semi-official publicity, possibly through the medium of the local press, would be preferable to official publicity. It is probable that, in any event, news of the Scheme will spread rapidly to all of the small expatriate community who may be affected. I have already unofficially informed the London Office of the China Association and I understand that the Board of Trade announcement is being reproduced in the Association's monthly journal. I shall be grateful if, in the light of the above comment, you would give the Extended Scheme such publicity as you may consider desirable and if you will inform me, in due course, of the steps you have taken.
6.
60°
Since, under the new Scheme, those who were not interned are now eligible for grants and as Colonial Office records for non-interned personnel are meagre it is probable that it will be necessary to refer to you in a number of cases to check an applicant's bona fides, While such reference from this country will, admittedly, be a more cumbersome method of checking applications from persons still in the Territories under your Administration, than the submission of forms of application to the local Secretariat for verification prior to being transmitted to this country you will doubtless prefer than intending applicants should ask the Board direct for a fom of application and that the form should thereafter be sent by the individuel to the Colonial Office for verification prior to transmission to the Board of Trade for assessment. Were the forms of application to be submitted to the local Government there is, to my mind, some risk of the Extended Scheme being in some way associated with the local Government in the minds of applicantú, and for the reasons given in paragraph 5 above you will doubtless agree that such a risk should be avoided as far as possible.
7. You will see from the foregoing that I consider it necessary to stress the United Kingdom complexion of the Extended Chattels Scheme in order to avoid any risk of local repercussions and I shall be grateful to learn by telegram whether you consider that semi official publicity will suffice to reach all who may be concerned and to know whether you see any difficulty in the carrying out of the procedure suggested in this savingram for dealing with applications.
SECER