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3. The Committee desire to lay before you as briefly as possible the circum- stances of the case.
4. In the early part of 1897, the Jubilee Committee, through the medium of the Press, invited suggestions from the public, as to what form a permanent Memorial of the event referred to should take.
5. The suggestions were carefully considered and after full discussion it was resolved that the most fitting Memorials would be :-
(1) The construction of a Hospital and Nursing Institute, and
(2) The construction of the Road already mentioned.
6. The Hospital and Nursing Institute need not be referred to further than to say that, after considerable delay, caused by a transfer of the site from the lower levels to the Peak District on the representation of the Principal Civil Medical Officer, this part of the scheme is likely to be soon realized. I will therefore con- fine myself in what follows to the Road portion of the scheme.
7. In the first place, the Committee desire to state that the the fullest publi- city was given to their proceedings while the various suggestions which had been made were under discussion, the representatives of the Press being present and full reports appearing in the newspapers.
8. The Resolutions specify the form of the Memorials decided upon were passed by the Committee on the 26th April, 1897, and, as the wording of the one relating to the road is somewhat important, I will quote it in full :-
Resolution 3.
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"That the money so collected together with an equal amount pro- "mised by the Colonial Government be deposited at interest in the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in the name of the Jubilee "Committee, and be disbursed by them after paying for the local celebra- "tions-one half towards the erection of the Hospital for Women and "Children and the training of nurses and the other half towards the con- "struction of the first section of the carriage road from Kennedy Town to "Aberdeen which the Government undertakes to commence forthwith and "to carry on the remaining portion of the road until completed."
9. These Resolutions were submitted to His Excellency the Governor, by whom in turn they were referred to you, and the Committee were informed that they had received the approval of the Government and of yourself as Secretary of State for the Colonies. They were also published in the newspapers.
10. During this time Major-General BLACK was in command of the Forces in the Colony and, as a member of the public, made a suggestion as to the form the Memorial should take, which however did not commend itself to the Committee and was consequently rejected.
11. On the basis of the Resolutions which were passel, subscriptions were collected from the entire community, the Chinese subscribing largely on account of the Road portion of the scheme, which it was anticipated would form an outlet for the inhabitants of the crowded western section of the City on the lower levels. When the subject was under discussion at the meeting of the 15th August, Mr. FUNG WA-CH'UN, one of the most active members of the Committee, stated “that he had collected funds from the Chinese on the promise that the road from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen would be undertaken."
12. The desirability of avoiding any action with regard to the disposal of the fund which could possibly give rise to a charge of breach of faith with the Chinese section of the community is self-obvious.