3.
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(2) A Chinese auditor to be approved by the Government
shall be employed to audit regularly the accounts
of the three Hospitals.
3) A monthly statement of accounts shall be prepared and furnished by the Directors to the Advisory
Board and also to the Honourable the Secretary
for Chinese Affairs for transmission to the
Governor.
6.
Whilst it is to be regretted that the Directors did not see their way to agree to a proposal on the lines of that mentioned in paragraph 4, I have
no doubt that the rules now adopted will be of real
benefit to the Hospitals. Steps have now been taken to
put these recommendations into practice.
7.
In this connection I should like to stress
the very real difficulty of persuading the Directors (who
are elected annually and by custom rarely re-elected)
to agree to a substantial reduction of their powers by
sharing them with the Advisory Board (which has a more
permanent element). The Directors may inwardly realise
that a larger measure of control by the Advisory Board
would make for greater efficiency but they fear loss of
"face"
- a very potent element in Chinese life. They
are unwilling that the public should be able to say of
them that the 1935 Directors were the first body to
agree to a surrender of any part of their powers, and
are emphatic in their opinion that there would be
difficulty in future years in finding gentlemen to serve
as Directors under such conditions.
8.
I do not consider the present an opportune
time for taking steps by the revision of Ordinance No.31
of