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2. Up to date, proposal to retain Japanese assets has not attracted attention here and it might well be possible to defer any announcement for fortnight, indicated in your Paragraph 6, provided that no announcement is made in other Far Eastern territories. I should, in any case, prefer to defer making announcement until question of University Endowment Fund has been settled. If it is settled on the lines of my telegram No. 792, I should like to substitute for last sentence of draft announcement above following:-
Begins.
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"It is estimated that assets available for
Hong Kong will be, of course, over $20 million. H.M.G. has decided that $12 million of this should be devoted to establishment of an Endowment Fund for Hong Kong University and an additional (corrupt group ?ten) scholarships a year at University for local boys and girls. Balance would be available for such other purposes as would benefit the whole community, as Hong Kong Government thought fit. Hong Kong Government proposes to set up a Committee on which there would be an unofficial majority to advise it as to how best money could be used". Ends.
3. Our estimate here of value of assets in Hong Kong is $23,000,000, including $5,000,000 in respect of liquidation of Yokohama Specie Bank. Ends.
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