I 11011/7
OUT FILE
PORSION
MICH
5.3.1.
30th "arch, 1950.
34
Bar,
I as directed by r. ecretary Bevin to seřnowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th Harch concerning your claim for compensation in respect of war 10s80s and personal injury sustained in China, and to state that although he appreciates the unfortunate position in which you find yourself as a result of the war in China, he regrets to be unable materially to add to what was stated in Poreign office letter of the 30th August 198.
I a: to explain that in the view of His Majesty's Government compensation in respect of war damage to property situated in the territory of an Allied Fower which was occupied by the enemy is the responsibility of the Government of that territory. This general principle was recognised by the Governments of the States who signed the Final Aet of the laris Conference on Reparation (from Germany) on the 81st December 1945. The Chinese Government, however, were not parties to that instrument, and have expressed their unwillingness to pay compensation to foreign nationals in respect of war da age, and, since they do not expensate their own nationals an are under no obligation to do so, there are no grounds on which His Majesty's Coverment could successfully contest their refusal even if there were no doubt of their capacity to pay.
in these circum tances, therefore, the only recourse is against Japan. Bo Peace Conference has yet been convened for the purpose of drawing up a Treaty of Peace with Japan, and although His Bajesty's Government's views on the desirability of concluding a pesce settlement in the Far East are well known, this is not a matter in which they can make progreen alone.
fer að r. Bevin is aware, the only payments which have so far been made to British subjects whose property in the Far East sustained war da ago are ex-gratia ɛrants under the Far estern Private Chattels Sehere. These granto, so far as they are available to British subjects who sustained war damage in China, are only available to those British subjects formerly interned in Japanese controlled territorios who now intend to make a permanent home in the United Kingdom. As you do not fulfil this last condition it is regrett & that you are not eligible to apply for such a grant.
In the case of ex-employees of the Shanghai Municipal Connell, pending a settlement by the Chinese Government who by the Sino-British Treaty of 1943 assumed inter elis the obligations of the Council, His Majesty's Government have prepared a schee for ox-gratia advanced on account of claim to service benefits to certain former abers of the Council
/starf,
B.P. Dillon, Esq.,
e/o Chartered Bank of India,
Anstralia and Ching
Hont Font