§ 25. Mr. L'ESTRANGE MALONEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the fact that on the balance of the China Indemnity Fund Account, which has reached the total of nearly £3,000,000 and is held in a bank at Shanghai, interest is only being paid at the rate of 4 per cent.; and whether, as the British bank rate is 5 per cent. and the China bank rate 9 per cent. or 10 per cent., he will say why such a low rate of interest is accepted to the prejudice of the Fund?
Mr. A. HENDERSONThe instalments of the indemnity as they are paid are deposited at one month's call in a British bank in Shanghai in the name of His Majesty's Minister in Peking, and in view of the recurrent hope that it would soon be possible to remit the indemnity, it has never appeared desirable to alter this arrangement. The bank rates mentioned in the question are, of course, higher than the corresponding rates on deposits, and the Chinese rate is not to be compared with the rates obtainable on deposits in a British bank.