167
3-
I agree with what the Vice-Chancellor wrote at the conclusion
of his recent pamphlet on "The University of Hong Kong -
Its Origin and Growth" Copies of this pamphlet have been
sent to each member of your Deputation, but I will quote
three sentences.
"The University of Hong Kong started with the idea
that China's greatest need was scientific and technical
training; the University was to become a force in the Far
East by producing qualified engineers and skilled doctors. The training of engineers and doctors is still necessary, but the University if it is to justify its existence as the
only British University in the Far East, must do far more than impart technical and professional competance. Its
teachers must study critically the sins of the times, and there must be among them those who are capable of interpret-
ing the West to China and China to the West"
4.
in
in
And
Sir Frederick Lugard's first idea with regard to the University was that it should provide/Hong Kong
higher education, especially/applied science, for which
Chinese students would otherwise have to go abroad.
applied science was then the cry of the moment. "Applied science" wrote the late Sir Robert Hart, "will suit the
Chinese requirements". This was also the view of His
Excellency, Chan Jen Chung, the then Viceroy of Canton. But
Sir Frederick Lugard also intended that the University should
be the place for the training of those who would take part
in the civil administration of China, and the idea was that such students would have to specialize in the comparative studies of Chinese Literature, Philosophy, History and Law. Sir Charles Eliot was keen about this; but the war came; Sir
Charles left, and the University which had been started with
quite inadequate funds and had been heavily handicapped by
the Great War, got into financial difficulties. Since then
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