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L_HKB 2851
ва
SK Tars.
68
RECE
**ISTRY
FROM:
Jill Barrett
ธ
1993
Assistant Legal Adviser
REGISTRY ction Taken
K174 270 3381
DATE:
22 July 1993
Ms Moore
HKD
SIR S K TANG BEQUEST
1.
I refer to your draft submission of 11 May and other minutes on this subject, and apologise for the delay in dealing with it. As this matter is less urgent than most other things I have to deal with, it has regrettably taken a long time to reach the top of my in-tray.
2. The Opinion of Counsel dated 16 December 1992 sets out two possible ways of dealing with the funds. It would appear that you have decided to opt for the simpler approach, discussed in paragraphs 3,4,6,7, 13 and 14 of Counsel's Opinion. I see no objection to following this course. It seems to me advisable to avoid the extra layer of trust administration which would result if a separate trust of the whole fund were set up. If we pay over the capital to Imperial Cancer Research and the British council on suitable terms, the FCO need have no further involvement in the administration of the money.
3. It would seem that Counsel considers that a letter sent to the British Council and to the ICR setting out the respective stipulations as to how the money is to be used would suffice, but the British Council has asked for a formal declaration of trust. Counsel seems to be content with this proposal (para 13 of the Opinion) and advises that there would be no need for separate trustees, and that the draft declaration produced by the British Counsel in 1988 could be revised to ensure that it gave effect to Sir S K Tang's wishes.
4. I agree that the their draft declaration does not seem consistent with Sir S K's wishes in some respects. In particular, para 3 (a) empowers the Trustee to spend the fund as well as the income. Also, I am not sure that the first of the two purposes (the advancement of education .... benefit of the public of the UK) was what he intended. My impression is that he intended the benefit to be solely for Hong Kong students studying in the UK (see para 1 of Counsel's Opinion, which refers to a Hong Kong telegram which I have not seen). Furthermore, the powers set out in para 3(b) (i) and (ii) authorise the Trustee to use the capital, whereas Sir S K apparently intended that only the income be used.
5. Another element of the draft declaration which I would query is para 4, which declares that if the trust declared in the previous provisions fails or if the income is not exhausted, the Trustee shall hold the funds and income in
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