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which the population of these districts live, of whom the working class preponderates, and have they thought out equitable means of dividing the charges, so as not to increase anneccesarily the cost of living and to cause endless disputes between owners and tenants or between tenants and tenants? The Chinese consider that the proposal, if car- ried into effect, would oonstitute a breach of contract on the part of the Government.
SOCIAL BARRIERS.
Education. On this subject, Bir, we should also like to make a few remarks. British education in this Colony, which has, during the past 7 years, steadily branched out all over China has, in an indirect way, served as a part of British propaganda work and, as such, it should have been so con- ducted as to gain the good will and affec- tion of all those whom it was intended to enlighten and whose co-operation it aimed at procuring in order to further British interests. Perhaps in the opinion of those in whose hands the work has been entrusted it has already been so conducted, but the result, as we have seen and experienced both here and elsewhere in China, is hardly commensurate with the efforts and time ex- pended. At any rate, it has not been so successful as the efforts of other nations who came into the field at a later date. It is true that appreciation of the facilities afforded by the British authorities and missions for gaining a modern education is to be found wherever British influence pre- Tails, but somehow or other there seems to be a lack of mutual sympathy and support between the British residents and the Chinese. For instance, to-day, at the metropolis of China. where most of the Chinese students educated abroad have gathered since their return, what forcibly strikes a visitor who takes any interest in the subject is that, except those who went there from Hongkong or returned from England, all the returned students have formed themselves into groups working heartily, sympathy with, and in support of the country from which they derived their education. The nationals of those countries from which the students came back also mingled freely and fraterually with the students and also with the Chinese mer- chants who have business dealings with them -a thing that is seldom, if ever, experi- enced here. How is it that the Chinese educated in Hongkong and in Great Britain behave so differently 1 This question we have put to many of our compatriots, and, although the answers were more or less evasive, they all pointed to one factor, and that is a want of mutual sympathy and good fellowship between the Chinese and those from whose country they roceive their educa tion. Even in this Colony, the centre of British influence and British enlightenment, there exist social barriers between the rulers and the ruled, which give rise more to mutual distrust than to the mutual con- fidence which is all-important for breeding mutual sympathy and understanding. The same condition prevails on the mainland of China, where the two peoples meet on more or less equal footing. This state of affairs is most regrettable, and we venture to believe that it can be removed by closer intercourse. Now that we have a Univer- sity among us, we hope that its growth will bo nursed with such care and a liberal spirit as will materially help the ends of British propaganda work. (Applause.)
HON. MR. HOLYOAK.
The Hon. Mr. HOLYOAK-Your Excel- lency. the various questions raised in connection with the Finance Bill under discussion have been so fully and ably dealt with by my colleague, the Senior Unofficial Member, that it is unnecessary for me to elaborate, or discuss at length, more than one or two points. I am in entirely in sympathy myself with the com- ments of the Senior Unofficial Chinese Member on the subject of hawkers' licences, and I cannot help feeling that during the past twelve months the Police prosecutions of juvenile offenders almost partook of the nature of persecution and must tend, if they have not already done $0. to the development of juvenile criminals, with whom, under present cir- cumstances, we have no adequate method of dealing. With your permission, sir, I should like to deal for the moment, first of all, with the important question of British education in China and in Hong- kong, which I deem one of the most vital questions before us to-day. At first sight you may feel inclined to call me to order in naming China in connection with this debate which is of more direct in- terest to Hongkong. but in reality the two problems are absolutely inseparable because the interests of both are common, united and inseparable so far as education is concerned. You will have an opportunity before long of reading the verbatim report of a very interesting dis- cussion, which took place a fortnight ago et the Shanghai conference of the British Chambers of Commerce, which dealt at very great length with the whole question of British Education in China and in Hongkong. You will read of the proposals to establish a British University in the North which it is not proposed in any sense to make competitive with University here. We studied this ques- tion sincerely and earnestly, and we are convinced that neither the University in the North, nor the Hongkong University can be fed and maintained without system of secondary education and secondary schools provided in different parts of China. I do not think we can separate the two problems; both re- presenting, as they do, British Im- perial interests. It was felt and very strongly in Shanghai and it is my Own conviction-and 1 know the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce in Hongkong is be- hind me in this-that we must go even further than providing elementary schools. We must clearly realise that not only the Hongkong University, but the University to be established in Tientsin should be regarded, not as the ultimate end in view, but as a means to that end. We should pass on students from these Universities for final education in our home universities. I say this be- cause it is a well-known fact in the North that our American friends with their zeal, which we all admire, have established schools and universities with this end in view. Already they are returning stud- ents who are becoming an ever increasing power in the North, I am not here co
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