COPY.
HONG KONG.
502
1
August 19, 1921.
Dear Mr. Churchill,
Government House.
I see from the newspapers that the question of the Boxer
indemnity is being discussed again, and that there is a suggest- ion to appoint a Committee on the subject.
If, as has been suggested, the money is applied to aduc- ational purposes in China, may I ask that consideration should ne given to the qequest put forward by my predecessor, that some part of it should be given to the Hong Kong University ?
This is the only point on which I have any right to make any suggestion; but perhaps you will allow me to express my views on the matter generally; -- they would of course be valueless if they were only based on my own knowledge and experience, but I have talked things over frequently with people. Chinese and European, whose opiniona are worth having, and I believe that what I am going to say deserves consideration.
In the first place, I am afraid that there can be no doubt that Great Britain has lost and is losing ground in China.
I have my own views as to some of the reasons, with which
I won't trouble you). I know little about the problems and con- ditions of the North, and am not much interested in them; but
I see a great deal of things in the South, which is, to my mind, the shpere in which Great Britain ought to be, and might be the leading influence. We are rapidly losing our hold on KwangTung, which is becoming more and more Americanized every year. One main reason for this is the influence which the Amerieans have
secured by means of education. They have spent very large sums
of it.
-
on education in KwangTung the Canton Christian College is a model institution and they are beginning to reap the benefit
Boys whose education has started under American auspices go to American Universities, and return to take up important positions in China. Naturally a man who has been trained in
American Ways
and who is familiar with American machinery,