CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932 — Page 204

-9-

311

British goodwill to, and trust in, the Chinese nation as a whole, feels that it must be made clear that, as this change will make it necessary to amend the Act, his assent must be ex- pressed as subject to the approval of Parliament, which he will

do his best to secure."

Obviously, then, it was clearly understood on both

sides that the withdrawal of the control of the indemnity funds

from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs world involve

the repeal of the Act of 1925 and the enactment of a new statute

authorising the ultimate control of the funds to be vested in

the Board of Trustees a body exercising its functions in

China and comprising a predominantly Chinese membership.

We have reason to believe that an amending statute

Apparently

on the desired lines was actually 3398555W drafted.

it was never introduced into Parliament, partly on account of

the political chaos in China of which the mob attack on the

British Concession at Hankow and the "Nanking Incident" of 1927

were probably the most outstanding symptoms.

Of the meetings of Lord Buxton's Advisory Committee

which presumably took place between the date of the presentation

of its Report (Including and endorsing the Willingdon proposals)

on October 18, 1926, and the date of the Exchange of lotes of

September 1930, we have no direct knowledge; nor are we aware

of the nature of the consultations and negotiations which must

have taken place both in London and in China during the period

that immediately preceded the Exchange of Notes and the Act of

1931. We are therefore unable to offer any authoritative ex-

planation of the drastic change in policy which took place be-

tween 1926 and 1930, beyond that contained in the Memorandum

of November 14th, 1930, issued by Mr Arthur Henderson (then

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) as a preface to the

Exchange of Notes. A cursory perusal of the Exchange of Notes

hardly reveals the deep significance of the departures from the

policy that underlay the accepted Willingdon recommendations.