8
3.
Provision for the usual
grant of £300 is being made in the
United Kingdom Estimates for 1939/40,
which are now under consideration.
I have, etc.
(Sgd.) MALCOLM MacDONALD
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No. 872
7338621326
H R
153710/361
on | | 53611/1/38 || Amex)
J
ge 9
27
9
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
29th November, 1938.
Sir,
Copy to treas t
Frequ
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your
[], despatch No. 348 of 17th October, 1938, on the subject of
Fresso]
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Encls. Nos.1,2
& 3.
the King Edward VII Scholarships at Hong Kong University.
2.
It is true, as stated, that the balance of this fund at 31st August, 1938, had not been reduced by the full amount contemplated under the scheme of increased scholarships reported in Sir William Peel's despatch No. 554 of 31st October, 1934. This appears in the main to be due to the fact that, as reported in Sir Thomas Southorn's despatch No. 630 of 28th November, 1935, no new scholarships were awarded as from the beginning of 1935 with the result that there were only five scholarships in operation during 1935 and not eight as contemplated under the scheme of allocation already referred to. An additional scholarship, making four in all, was awarded on the result of the examination of June, 1935, but the number awarded in 1936 was reduced from three to two so that the deficiency incurred in 1934 has never been caught up. Assuming that the
scholarships awarded would have been for four years each
the Fund is now £480 better off than it would have been if
the original intention had been carried out.
3.
The fact that the surplus in the Fund has not
been used up as originally intended has already been the subject of correspondence with the University and I enclose
for your information copies of letters from the Registrar
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,
&C., &C., &c.
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10
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of 28th September and 17th October and a reply from
the Colonial Secretary of 28th October. In the last
letter proposals were made for the award of scholarships
over the next five years designed to use up the greater
part of the surplus on the assumption that the annual
grant of £300 would be received as in the past from His
Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. As I
understand it, these annual grants have been regarded
as going into a fund which forms a reservoir for the
allotment of scholarships but since the number of
scholarships which could conveniently be awarded in
each year has varied the expenditure has not always
exactly balanced the income of the Fund. It happens
that a series of accidents has resulted in the
accumulation of a considerable surplus in the Fund
but I think it most undesirable that that should result
in any curtailment of its income and I trust that you
will agree that the surplus should rather be used, as
was approved in principle by Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister in
his despatch No. 20 of 16th January, 1935, for the
purpose of increasing the number of scholarships to be
granted.
In any case I submit that the present would be
a peculiarly unfortunate moment for the disappearance
of this annual grant. A determined effort is being
made to bring the University's aims and work into closer
conformity with the conditions and needs prevailing in
Hong Kong and in China: it would, therefore, be
regrettable if temporary cessation of payments by His
Majesty's Government were to give the impression that
it no longer possesses their support and interest to
the same extent as in the past.
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