medicine and with academic institutions in Hong Kong. Accordingly it was agreed that the Trust Deed should allow for a maximum of seven trustees but that it should be set up initially with five Croucher, MacCallum and Todd together with Dr. R. L. Huang (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong) and Sir John Butterfield (Regius Professor of Physic and Master of Downing College in the University of Cambridge). The choice of the two extra trustees was based on the facts that Rayson Huang was a distin- guished Chinese academic scientist and that Sir John Butterfield, distinguished in his own right, had also had close association with the development of medical education in Hong Kong.
The Deed setting up the Noel Croucher Foundation was then finalised and signed in Hong Kong on 28th November 1979 by Noel and three of the other Trustees (MacCallum, Huang and Butterfield) my own signature being added a few days later in Cambridge. Under the Deed the entire assets of Commonwealth Investments (Panama) Incorporated a private company owned by Noel -- were transferred to the new Foundation as its capital. These assets consisted of a wide range of investments and in addition a substantial amount of bullion, the latter being in the hands of Rothschilds (Hong Kong) Ltd. It was agreed by the Trustees that the investments held by Commonwealth Investments (Panama) Inc. should be transferred on behalf of the Foundation to Messrs. Schröder Wagg of London who would be responsible for their management, subject to the authority of the Trustees, and that the bullion should, for the time being, remain in the hands of Rothschilds (Hong Kong) to retain or to sell wholly or in part at any time at the behest of the Trustees. The total value of the Foundation's assets at this point was estimated to be approximately £20 million and it was in due course recognised as a tax-exempt charitable organisation under the laws of Hong Kong. At the same time the liquidation of Commonwealth Investments (Panama) Inc. was set in train so that all its assets and investments could in due course, be transferred wholly to the Croucher Foundation. The liquidation of Commonwealth Investments (Panama) Inc. proved a more complex matter than we at first thought and was not completed until March 1984.
The Trust Deed conferred wide powers on the original Trustees - Croucher, Todd, MacCallum, Huang and Butterfield. They were given power to increase their number to a maximum of seven by majority decision: appointment of new Trustees was to be made by a majority of existing Trustees who must never be less than three in number. The seat of the Foundation was to be Hong Kong, but a clause was included in the Deed empowering the Trustees to transfer the seat to any part of the world with immediate effect following a majority decision of the Trustees. The Trustees were not only to have complete control of the assets of the Foundation but could spend capital as well as income if they deemed it desirable and they were also empowered to accept capital donations from outside sources at their discretion.
Before the Trust Deed was drawn up and signed there were numerous discussions regarding the objects and policy of the Foundation to ensure that they would be in accordance with the wishes of the Founder. It was decided that the objects should be so stated in the Deed as to give the maximum latitude to the Trustees; they were accordingly defined as the promotion of education, learning and research by such charitable actions as the Trustees might decide, including the provision of scholarships, fellowships, prizes etc.
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