PART XI - Adminiistration and Control

• Author: Chamberlam, Austen
• Pages: 153

PART XI - ADMINISTRATION AND CONTROL

Those who have made themselves acquainted with the intentions of the British Government as embodied m the Act of 1925 are aware that the functions of the Statutory Committee are only

advisory, and that the actual administration of the Indemnity fund will necessarily pass into other hands Lord Buxton, m his memorandum of the 29th December last, referred to this question, and suggested that the administrative power would presumably be vested in a Central Committee m China, of which it appeared essential that at least half the members should be Chinese He also raised the question as to whether it was necessary for the Statutory Committee to remain in being after it had reported its proposals to the Secretarl of State The position has been very much misunderstood in China Both before and after the arrival of this delegation, the criticisms that appeared in the Chinese press showed that there was much dissatisfaction m Chinese circles-educational, political and journalistic-with regard to the way in which the matter of the Indemnity had been handled, or was supposed to have been handled, by the British Government The constitution of the Advisory Committee was criticised because it contained only three Chinese members to eight British The fact that the Advisory Committee was repeatedly brought into unfavourable comparison with the committee which had been appointed to manage the American Indemnity Funds was in itself sufficient proof that the critics did not understand what they weie criticising Otherwise they must has e known that no comparison was possible between the two committees and that the committee which would eventually deal with the British funds had not yet come into existence It was i the hope of removing some of the misconceptions so prevalent in China that the delegation took an early opportunity of issuing to the press the statement which has already been reproduced (see Part II, (n), p 52) In that statement it was pointed out that the Advisory Committee 'may be dissolved when the permanent executive organisation is established for allocating and administering the funds The character and composition of the permanent organisation constitute one of the most important questions to be considered bv the delegation ' This statement did not have the result of silencing criticism, but thenceforth the attack was directed mainly against the statute itself which it was alleged left the funds in the ultimate control of the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The delegation received many letters on this subject It was pointed out in them that Chinese national feeling would be strongly opposed to any system of management or administration which vested the control of the funds in other than Chinese hands It was also stated that the British were not really returning the Indemnity to China, as had been claimed, but were merely providing for the diversion of the funds into a certain specified channel One such letter was addressed to the chairman of the delegation by Messrs W T Tao and P. Ling, representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Education; and a subsequent letter from the same association announced that unless the money was returned to China unconditionally, the association would oppose any schemes for the allocation of the funds that the delegation or the Statutory

Committee might recommend Resolutions to this effect, it was intimated, had been passed at a meeting of the association, and m the course of the discussion that ensued the members of the associaton had declared that unless their demands were agreed to, all the Peking schools and colleges would refuse to accept any portion of the Indemnity funds, even though they might be compelled, for want of money, to close their doors A communication from the Chinese Engineers' Association, dated the 20th March, was similarl3 expressed 'This society advises all public bodies m the country to make representations to the British Government to the effect that if it sincerely intends to return the money to China it should allow China herself to organise a committee which shall have the power to allocate the funds as well as the duty of investigating the best methods of application As to the Indemnity delegation now visiting China, we are of opinion that they should be received with the courtesies due to foreign guests, but that we should submit to them no requests for grants or assistance from the Indemnity fund To make such requests at the present moment would be injurious to our national dignity ' With regard to the demand for the 'unconditional' return or surrender of the Indemnity it may be pointed out that this was put forward long before the arrival of the delegation in China The question came up for discussion in the Chinese Parliament as early as April 1924 In that...