CO129-529-3 China- Boxer Indemnity (Application) Bill 21-2-1931 - 21-2-1931 — Page 18

In any further communication on this subject, please quote

No.

F 2034/443/10

and address-

not to any person by name,

but to-

"The Under-Secretary of State."

Foreign Office,

London, S.W.1.

IMMEDIATE.

Sir,

FOREIGN OFFICE.

S.W.1.

17th April, 1931.

18

£7,000,000.

9to

I am directed by Mr. Secretary Henderson to refer

to your letter No. 82708/31 of the 14th April enclosing

a copy of a telegram from the Governor of Hongkong

requesting that an assurance be given that the acceptance

of a tender from the Hongkong Whampoa Dock Company for a

railway ferry from Nanking to Pukow would not be contrary

to the terms of the China Indemnity (Application) Act.

2. It seems likely that there is some misunderstanding

in Hongkong as to the effect of this Act, whose main

provisions can be briefly outlined as follows. The

remitted indemnity funds, consisting of sums hitherto

accumulated and of future interest still due to be paid,

are to be divided into two portions. One of these portions,

which will amount to approximately seven million pounds, will

be entrusted to the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission

in London, through whom the Chinese Government will place

contracts for the supply and delivery in China of railway

or other materials to be purchased out of this fund. This

Commission is specifically restricted in its purchases to

goods "to be manufactured in the United Kingdom".

3. The other portion of the remitted funds, accruing by

instalments spread over fifteen years and amounting in all to

approximately.....

The Under Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.