BRITAIN AND TIBET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 27

BRITAIN AND TIBET.

PAYMENT OF INDEMNITY.

LONDON, January 28. The last instalment of the Tibet indemnity hns been paid. CALCUTTA, January 30. The Indian Government, as the result, of the indemnities settlement by Tibet, has ordered the svacuation of the Chumbi Valley.

A British Mission was despatched under - Colonel Younghusband in 1903 by tr-e i Indian Government to secure the observ- • ance of the Anglo-Tibetan conventions of *-1890 and 1893, in accordance with which Yatungin the Chumbi Valley, on the IndianTibet frontier, was opened for trade. The mission was received with much hostility iby the Tibetans, and fighting took place, but Lhass was reached on August 3, _ 1904-. After considearble negotiation a treaty wa3 signed on . September 7, 1904, and in accordance - with this Tibet agreed to establish markets -at Gyangtse and Gartok, in 'addition to '.Yetung, for British and Tibetan trade, and Great Britain agreed to alter by -separate arrangement any objectionable - features in the convention of 1893. Tibet to pay Great Britain an indemnity of" £500,000, but Mr Brodrick, on behalf "f his Majesty's Government, subsequently decided that £165,666 should be the amount of the indemnity.