TELEPHONES: OXFORD
2931 ADMINISTRATION
3131 GENERAL
15
38/46
Dear Gent,
IMPERIAL FORESTRY INSTITUTE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
RECEIVEDPark Road, Oxford, 14th July, 1939.
17 JUL 1939
C. O. REGY
16
I must apologize for not having answered earlier
your 53666/38 of 17th April, 1939, about forestry in Hong
Kong. I put it aside to thirk over at a time of great
pressure of work, and it got overlooked.
I agree that it will probably be better to let
the matter rest, though it is fairly obvious that Hong
Kong needs professional advice on forestry. I suggested
Malaya only as the handiest place from which to get it, and
of course the conditions are different. But if one were
to accept the argument that a trained forester with experi-
ence in Malaya was incapable of appreciating conditions
elsewhere, there would not be much justification for a
Colonial Forest Service!
If the Hong Kong Botanical & Forestry Department
make proper use of the standard statistical forms for annual
reports of colonial forest departments, as appears to be
contemplated in their report for 1938, the true situation
should stand out more clearly.
Yours sincerely,
༡༠
Dr. Oliphan 6
G.E.J.Gent, Esq., D.S.O.,0.B.E.,M.C..
Colonial Office,
Downing Street,S.W.1.