I C I C I

and talks that are proceeding include measures for improving the plantation output coupled with some compensation to the former owner companies. The strength of the present government has still to be tested however, for it is doubtful if those who now have the running of estates, mines, etcetera, in their hands, can be persuaded to forego their lucrative jobs in the cause of national efficiency. In talks we have had in London, and from what our representative gleaned during a recent visit to Djakarta, it seems that there is little possibility at present of our taking over and running our own business, although The Chartered Bank was the last foreign bank to leave Indonesia and then only because of confrontation. Burma, unlike Indonesia, does not yet feel the need of assistance monetary or technical, from the rest of the world and only when it does, and that time may be getting nearer, should it be possible to hope that it will honour its obligations for the expropriation of foreign-owned assets.