CJ.
Cahi
I Gov
Precemento lush,
Please see
Desk 1061
17.3.41
2
las venture of forme. 5. Have you any precedente
chi
noted for the sake of Crown head to Churches
A
illa Manro
I commet fuist
mate of cung cause
of this kind.
1 Foliannaller.
31/5/41
It is apparently necessary to consider this question on its merits in respect of Hong Kong alone.
The Governor has asked for a ruling from the S. of S. on the terms on which Crown land should be leased for the erection of "churches, chapels and similar religious buildings". I think that his question is confined to buildings erected for the purpose of Christian worship, and it might be at the outset considered whether there were any grounds at all why the Hong Kong Government should grant special consideration to such buildings. It could be said that there is no "State Church" in the Colony, and that on these grounds there is no case for granting special consideration to persons or bodies wishing to erect churches or chapels in the Colony.
As against that perhaps rather doctum aure view it could be pointed out that the grant of favourable terms in the past has occasioned no difficulty. St. John's Cathedral, the leading Anglican Church in the Colony, was built with assistance from public funds, and it has been the practice of the Government in the past in a good many, if not the majority of cases, to give special terms to such schemes (one can leave out of the question assistance given by the Government by way of subsidy to such Christian bodies as the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Little Sisters of the Poor to further their social and charitable work).
Furthermore the Chinese are not naturally fanatical on religious questions and are not likely to object to the continuance of the present practice. It should not be forgotten that Chinese institutional religion is concerned mainly with the observance of the rites and ceremonies due to one's ancestors, and that the Hong Kong Government provides facilities for the performance of those ceremonies, e.g. it has just built a large new Chinese cemetery on the mainland, and has provided transport facilities for mourners travelling thither and mourning pavilions for the performance of the proper ceremonies.
On all these grounds, therefore, we can concern ourselves with the Governor's proposal to regularise the present procedure in respect of Crown
land