This transaction caused a regular commotion and was fiercely _criticized for various reasons. China's debt in Europe was increased by £1,800,000 for the supply of material of which it was declared she could never make any effective use. The British Government having agreed with other Powers to refrain from importing arms and military material into China was now violate ing that undertaking by allowing a British concern to dump a great quantity of material in China that could be used for military purposes though designated as commercial. Technical people said it was ridiculous to send to China 100 machines of a single complicated type which could not be flown without protracted instruction. Finally the financial clause which provided £500,000 out of the loan floated in London to be paid to China for the purpose of establishing aerial services was particularly condemned on the ground that the Government. could subvert the money for other purposes, exactly as had been done in the case of so many of the Japanese transactions which the British in particular had criticized.
It must be admitted that the Vickers' agreement had objectionable features, but it has since been modified and is now claimed as being sound, and advantageous to China. Instead of sending out 100 Vimys, Vickers have agreed to supply fewer of the large machines and a suitable number of Avros and instruction al machines for training purposes. An audit committee of foreigners and Chinese has been an-pointed which secures the proper and economical expenditure of the £500,000. Finally, there is the protection of the undertaking secured from the Government by the British Legation that the material supplied under the two agreements shall not be used for military purposes. The Legation has since urged the Government to proceed with the plans for commercial flying, and the result has been the satisfactory decision to commence the Shanghai service with the least possible delay.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.