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Universities in Britain and it has been my privilege to entertain not a few of them. But there the con- tact has ended. It is not their fault. The connecting link be tween the Universities of Britain and the University of Hong Kong has not yet been forged. The very desirability of such a link has not been realized. Geographically in China yet outside it, this Univer- sity stands isolated. I have often
·4·
been sorely puzzled and very lone- ly; but for all that, I have had a happy life in Hong Kong. I have tried to serve the University whole- heartedly and in this service I have found satisfaction. Amid the storm and strain of financial and other difficulties, I have tried not to forget that ultimately all vic- tories are moral and that spirit is the only sure foundation to build upon.-Goodbye!
Speech of Sir Andrew Caldecott, Kt., C.M.G., C.B E., Chancellor of the University
of Hong Kong
It is a year since I last spoke to you in these Chancellor's robes. It seems to me and, I dare say, to many of you more than a year; for the past twelve months have been tightly packed with events some of which it has been ex- tremely difficult for the mind to sort out under the labels of de- sirable or undesirable. So far as this University is concerned there is no doubt whatever about the classification of the Eu Tong Sen gymnasium or the Sum Pak Ming basket-ball court; they are both unmixed blessings for which the gratitude of many goes out, and will continue to go out, to the generous donors.
I regret, however, that there has occurred no other considerable addition to the list of the Univer- sity's benefactions and endow- ments; nobody has yet aspired to figure as the Lord Nuffield of Hong Kong. It would indeed have been unreasonable to ex- pect any great accretion to our endowments at a time, of severe economic depression, but it is be- cause I am optimistic enough to see signs already of the lifting of that depression that I have been meditating on the University's chances of further future endow- ment.
If I myself had some millions of dollars to bequeath (this, I regret to say, is pure hypothesis and not a prospect) I should certainly want to know two things; whether the institution which I selected for endowment was being run in a sound, economical and
businesslike manner and whether the most was being made of its public utility.
Now it is because I have had doubts expressed to me by respon- sible persons on both these points as regards this University, because also its present finances afford room for considerable concern, and chiefly because the Colonial Government is now contributing to them annually a sum of no less than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars that I have de- cided, as Governor and with the full approval of my Executive Council, to appoint a small com- mittee with the following terms of reference:-
(1) to investigate the
(2)
(3)
I
present, and probable future, financial position of the Hong Kong University and to advise whe- ther
are any changes
de- sirable in its staffing, per- sonnel, salary scales or ganization:
or-
to enquire and advise whe- ther any such, or
other,
changes are desirable in the interest of its utility or
prestige;
to tender any other advice or suggestions for the future of the University.
have heard the suggestion made that we ought to get an ex- pert out from home for this inves- tigation, but I feel certain myself if that our local conditions and cir- cumstances are so peculiar to our- selves and that the first thing at any rate, to do is to bring good, clear local brains to bear on the
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