CO129-619-1 Parliamentary delegation to China 1-9-1947 - 23-12-1947 — Page 16

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which were not going to Russia, and would be available for us, but it would be physically difficult for us to take delivery of them.' He had found the British merchants in Formosa worried about United States competition. Harrison hoped that priorities for exports to Formosa might be given by the British authorities. Mrs. Monck said that the Export Promotion Department were aware that Formosa offered better possibilities for British trade than other parts of China.

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SHIPPING In reply to a question by General Money, Mr. Roberts said that he did not think that the Chinese hed sufficient shipping to carry their own trade; was on the down-grade owing to lack of it. He was, however, doubtful whether we would succeed in breaking down the opposition, inspired by the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company and Tu Yuch-sheng, to the use of foreign shipping, and quoted as an example the fact that, lthough the Chinese had eggs and no refrigerating ships in which to export them, there seemed no chance of getting permission for British refrigerating ships to fetch the egcs. Lord Ammon, Mr. Roberts added, took a more optimistic view of the shipping position. Lord Amulree suggested that Tu Yuch-sheng should be invited to the United Kingdom.

HONG KONG. The Delegation said that they had received a lot of complaints from the Chinese about smuggling from Hong Kong into China. Mr. Harrison had been informed by the Governor of Hong Kong that the Hong Kong Government were trying to stop this smuggling, but Mr. Rogers had told him that it was a scandal that the Hong Kong Government had not finally concluded the proposed smuggling agreement with China. Mr. Harrison said that Chinese feeling was as strong about this matter as it was about the opening of China's river ports to foreign shipping; he felt that we should do our utmost to meet the Chinese requirements. Mis Loughnane pointed out, firstly, that the physical difficulty of stopping such smuggling was great and, secondly, that while we wanted to satisfy legitimate Chinese desires, the position of Hong Kong as an entrepôt port had also to be considered.

BRITISH COUNCIL. The Delegation thought the work of the British Council in China excellent, and the staff well chosen. But the Council's staff in China was too small, and in ddition they felt rather forgotten in that a successor to Professor Roxby had still not been appointed, although a successor would by now have been due for appointment even if Professor Roxby had not died. The Delegation had heard no criticism of the way in which the British Council themselves chose Chinese students for United Kingdom scholarships instead of giving scholarships to students chosen by the Chinese authorities. Lord Amulree suggested for consideration that Chinese should be brought to this country for training as doctors and that those who graduated here should be brought back again in after-years for short refresher courses, as once they got back to China they tended to be cut off from up-to-date medical knowledge.

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