EDITORIAL
Writing to me recently, Mr. Cranmer-Byng, first editor of the Journal and now Professor of History in the University of Toronto, commented that there had been a great advance in recording Hong Kong's recent past in the last ten years'. Happily these ten years have exactly coincided with the period since the Journal first began publication, and the decade has indeed seen a notable change in the condition and extent of Hong Kong studies. A considerable number of post-graduate students and faculty members, mainly from American and British Universities, have spent varying periods of time here and most have published the results of their studies, in learned articles, books, and doctoral theses. Students and staff in our own two universities have also conducted research into Hong Kong subjects, although the main impetus has come from outside the Colony.
The Hong Kong Branch has continuously sought out these scholars to take part in its lecture sessions and symposia; and to get them to place this work in the Journal. In both these aims we have been generally successful, and the lecture lists and Journals over the last ten years show that we have served to bring their work to the attention of members here in Hong Kong by means of the spoken and the written word, and to a wider public abroad. In this way, the Branch has provided a convenient outlet for new work on local subjects, whilst the regular appearance of the Journal has encouraged these scholars to entrust their work to us for publication.
As Editor, I would like here to thank my colleagues on the Council whose knowledge, contacts, and good offices have helped to bring the Branch into contact with visitors engaged in local research, and to extend my appreciation to the scholars themselves for their willingness to place their findings before us. If the Branch has been of assistance to them, they may also be assured that they have been of service to us. A Journal is as good as its contributors, and we have been singularly fortunate in the calibre of our authors over the past decade. To them we offer our thanks. We hope, too, that they will continue to make their work available and that they will encourage their research students and colleagues