CO129-491 - Public Offices - 1925 — Page 312

BRITAIN AND THE BOXER INDEMNITY.

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TOWARDS the end of December, 1922, the British Chargé D'Affaires at Peking, acting on in. structions from the British Foreign Ofice, informed the Chinese Gov- ernment that Great Britain had decided, in principle, to devote her share of the Boxer Indemnity to expenditure on purposes mutually beneficial ἐπ both countries. British opinion in the Far East, and at home, was immediately stampeded into supporting a pro- ject for devoting the entire out- standing British share of the in- demnity to educational purposes, especially to the "education of Chinese on British lines,” No other use for the remitted indem nity seems to have been seriously considered. The attitude of the British Chambers of Commerce in China, and of Britons at home who took any interest in the matter is easy to understand. There was, in the first place, the American pre- cedent, established in 1908, when a portion of the American indem- nity was remitted. The Chinese Government, anxious to mark its appreciation of America's gen. erosity and "mindful of the desire recently expressed by the President of the United States" found, in the action of the American Gov- ernment "a favourable opportun- ity to promote the coming of Chin. ese students to the United States to take courses in the schools and higher educational institutions of the country." A scheme was accordingly drawn up, as a result of which Tsing Hua College was established near Peking for the preliminary training of students destined for America. From this institution a steady stream of Chinese students has proceeded to the United States to complete their education in the Universities of that country.

At the conclusion of the Great War it was generally felt by Britons in China that their coun- try was lagging behind in the provision of facilities for the higher education of Chinese, and a special Committee was appoint- ed by the Associated British

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Chambers of Commerce to inves tigate and report. This Com mittee after an exhaustive inquiry recommended the establishment of a fund, raised by voluntary sub- seriptions, eighty per cent, of which was to be used for the pro- motion of the education of Chinese on British lines, and twenty per cent. for the support of British Medical Missions. Inquiries from existing British educational in- stitutions showed that they requir- ed approximately $600,000 for capital expenditure, and about $124,000 per annum in the form of grants. It proved impossible to raise the amount required to de fray this capital expenditure, and the cost of the proposed annual subsidies. But about $115,000 was subscribed, from which grants ranging from $300 to 5,000 per annura were promised to various British secondary schools for five consecutive years, while $20.000 was allotted to Medical Missions. The remission of the British share of the Boxer Indemnity should render it unnecessary to canvass for further subscriptions for the support of British Educational in- stitutions in China. The question at the moment is whether the whole of the remitted Indemnity should be devoted to the promotion of education, or whether it would not be more beneficial to China to include other projects in the British Indemnity scheme,

The amount of the Boxer In- demnity was fixed, in 1901, at Haikwan Taels 450,000,000. Amor- tization was to be spread over a period of thirty-nine years, inter- est at the rate of four per cent. per annum being charged on the capital amount. The total payable by China between 1902 and 1940 (both inclusive) would therefore amount to Hk. Tis. 982,238.150. The British share of the Indem- nity amounts to about 11.25 per cent. (actually 11.24901 per cent,) The annual instalments were re- gularly met until August 1917, when China declared war on the Central Powers, and Britain and most of the Allies agreed to the

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