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the Purchasing Commission to buy their material in England. Nor would there have been any serious justification for such criticism . In this connection a passage from the Report of the British Economic Mission to the Far East, 1930-31 (pp. 66-7) is worth quoting.
"Our competitors' prices are frequently lower than
ours, but those who know our products recognise that they are very much better and more durable. This is shown up clearly in repair departments where the frequency of repairs on competing locomotives is much greater than in the case of British ones... The competing vehicles which we saw made it clear that the British specification was altogether on a higher plane. The very fine locomotives recently delivered from Great Britain to the Canton-Kowloon and Shanghai-Nanking railways should have a great
educational effect."
These observations give us confidence that even if the Chinese are obliged to purchase some of their railway material in Great Britain at a higher price than that asked by some of our industrial competitors, they are receiving full value for their money. It is not on this ground, then, that we venture to criticise the agreement arrived at in the recent Exchange of Notes, though as already stated it is un- doubtedly regrettable that the British gift to China should have been accompanied by a condition which must inevitably create the RAM unpleasant suspicion that the British Government is determined that whatever may become of the cultural projects for which the returned indemnity had origin- ally been intended, the bulk of the money shall be applied to the stimulation of industry in Great Britain.
In view of economic conditions in England it is not surprising that British interests were gratified at the prospect of persuading the Chinese to 88888888 spend the
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