No.718.
Sir,
3 53926/38
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
26th September, 1938.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of your despatch No.231 of 28th July, 1938, on the subject
of a golf course for the Kowloon Golf Club.
2.
It should perhaps be explained at the outset
that membership of the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, which
obtained a lease of land in the New Territories on favourable
terms as shown in Mr. Harcourt's despatch No.11 of 10th
January, 1913, though open to persons of any race or social
standing, is in such demand that it has of necessity to be
restricted by the process of ballot. The natural outcome
of this has been that membership has been confined to
Europeans of a certain position: in fact no Chinese or
Eurasians have ever applied for election. The Kowloon Golf
Club, therefore, has been a great boon to the less wealthier
Europeans such as subordinate officers of this Government,
junior employees of commercial firms, mercantile marine
officers of lower grades and numerous others who by force
of circumstances find themselves unable to avail themselves
of the amenities provided by the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club.
Among the members of the Kowloon Golf Club are a few Chinese
and Eurasians who have taken to the game. It is pertinent to mention also that the principal courses of the Royal
Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling lie 25 miles away from the
ferry
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,
&C.,
&C.,
&C.