Under this heading the figure men tioned has been £05,000,000 sterling, or perhaps a little under. There is no solid basis for calculation. Of this total the British share amounts to nearly 26,000,000 sterling a proportion of less than 10 per cent. If, therefore, it could be said of all these unsecured loans that they were made ithout conscience for ulterior motives and in callous disregard of ferests of China the extent ish participation should not involve any large share of blame, In point of fact, however, approximately one half of British unsecured claims are in respect of trading matters and principally represent indebtedness by the railways to British firms for the supply of way material without which the railways would have found it difficult to be in efficient operation to-day. Their honest business ch well illustrated by the el they received at the Tari ference where they were classified a8 [commercial debts.
The balance, something rather lover £3,000,000 is attributable to. Jwhat are known as the Vickers and, Marconi Loans.
Commercial Aviation and Wireless After the Great War the Chinese Government professed a desire to embark upon a programme of commercial aviation and wireless telegram phy. The ease, however, with which commercial aeroplanes could be transformed into bombing machines caused the British Govern. ment to regard this matter with Jsome distrust. But in face of the solemn assurance of the Chinese JGovernment in days before militarigm had reached its present proportions, there would have been no rea-ison why a British firm should ha been denied the opportunity of legitimate business, especially when another firm, Messrs. Handley Page had already sold six passenger machines, which were exploring rial routes in the North of China.
In respect of these two loans, the Chinese Government issued Treasury Notes, which have assigned! to them as security no specific revenues but, Possess the general undertaking of the Chinese Government to provide for interest and repayment.
The Vickers loan provided the Chinese Government with a quantity of commercial aeroplanes and other material for building up a system of government air services. Under the arrangements for the loan a picked staff of British pilots and mechani
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.