RESTITUTION SIR, —It is to be feared that the doctrine that
no restitution can be made to the victor by the vanquished is already accepted in certain quarters as axiomatic. It would be interesting to hear openly declared what objection there can be to those debts, which Britain has incurred to India and other governments who were formerly our debtors, being secured on the German Customs and Railways. Loans to China and Chinese debts were success- fully secured by this method and it is difficult to see why it should be less applicable to Germany.
Again, it is palpably absurd that a State with natural resources like Siam, which placed those resources at the service of our enemies, should remain in undiminished enjoyment of them. If that policy is approved let it be clearly recognised for what it is, a policy of appeasement. It will seem fantastic in Malay eyes—that the Siamese who betrayed our friendship should suffer less severely than the Malays, whom we claimed to protect, from the consequences of the war. Our economy would suffer no harm if some of the produce of Siamese teak forests, rice fields, and tin mines were required as indemnity. The Isthmus of Kra should cer- tainly be incorporated in Malaya, and Singora and Patani (populated mainly by Malaya), if ceded to Britain would give us a valuable base and window on the Gulf of Siam.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
Previous page
