It was inevitable that the discussion of the Foreign Office Supplementary Estimates in the House of Commons on Wednesday should have become somewhat heated, but it is more than satisfactory that the items of £15,000 for the conveyance of British persons to Hongkong and their maintenance there, together with the vote of £5,000 to Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, were ultimately passed. The Government's admission that the grant to the former British Ambassador was unprecedented clears up the whole position with regard to it, for it is emphasized that future cases will always be regarded on their merits.
That seems to be the reasonable way of looking at the matter. It is true, however, that the conditions under which the injury was inflicted on Sir Hughe were also unprecedented, for a state of risk had been brought
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.