50 END
1631
China Indemnity
[Mr. Albery.]
HOUSE OF COMMONS
universities and perhaps
the hon. Member in charge of the Bill could give this matter a little attention.
or
Mr. ERNEST EVANS: In reply to the objection expressed, may I say that the work of the universities does not consist of lectures at the universities and the university colleges. They deliver a very wide course of lectures not in the build- ings
in the
of precincts
the universities but under the auspices of the universities. I think that will cover that branch, a very important branch of their activities. If any university is approached by any responsible body of people for the object
the object of delivering lectures to encourage and facilitate the teaching of the Chinese language and literature it will not be confined to the precincts of the university, and lectures will be delivered to people who are not under-graduates.
Apart from that I should like to join my friends in thanking the Under- Secretary for the not unexpected and sympathetic way in which he has re- ceived this Amendment. By accepting it he is doing what every Member wants to do to facilitate and encourage greater co-operation in industrial and other directions between our own country and other countries in the world.
Mr. EDE: I would not have intervened except that we have no worse condemna- tion of university representation than the manœuvres which have taken place. What are the facts of the situation? The junior Member for Cambridge (Mr. G. Wilson) was on the Committee which considered this matter. He and the hon. Member for Barnstaple (Sir. B. Peto) were the only two Conservatives which attended the Committee.
Mr. SPEAKER: That has nothing to do with this Amendment.
Mr. EDE: I will confine my remarks to the actions of the university Mem- bers on the point before us. I think I am entitled to discuss that after the speech of the hon. Member for Penistone (Mr. Rennie Smith).
Mr. SPEAKER: And others will want to answer the hon. Member.
(Application) Bill.
1632
Mr. EDE: I agree that it is desirable that this Amendment should be agreed to, but I suggest that the universities should have discovered their objections to the Bill at an earlier stage.
ot
13
Sir J. WITHERS: If the hon. Member will allow me, the mistake could have been seen until the charter put into our hands. The charter was put in our hands in Cambridge on a Sunday, and we raised the question on the Monday.
Mr. CAMPBELL: I sincerely hope the money will be kept in the hands of the universities, because I am perfectly sure they have the facilities for giving the education. As I am perhaps one of the few Members of the House who know some Chinese, I realise how necessary it is, when men go out to those parts, that they should have the opportunity before they go to China of learning some- thing of that language. In all our com- mercial dealings it is of the greatest value that men should go out knowing something about the language of the country. In the nature of things they will not know a great deal even if they learn it here, but, if they learn a smatter- ing here, it will be a great benefit to them and to this country too. I join in thanking the Under-Secretary.
Mr. C. WILLIAMS: It would be ex- tremely discourteous if I did not rise to thank the hon. Gentleman for the part that he has played. I did raise it in the first place, and I am glad that others have followed and have been successful in getting this Amendment. made. Nothing is more important than that we should have trained in this country a large number of people well equipped in foreign languages and in the capacity to go to other countries and understand the trade and languages of those countries.
Mr. SPEAKER: There is a Standing Order against either tedious repetition of one's own arguments or those of
others.
Question, "That proposed words, as amended, be therefore inserted in the Bill," put, and agreed to.
Bill read a Third time, and passed.