4.
being concerned mainly with the Training of Teachers and with
Economics, but the Staff have always been keen on the expansion
of its more cultural sides, and, when the World War shut down
all our activities, substantial developments seemed at last
within sight.
The Science Faculty was born only in 1938, and had
hardly outgrown its infantile troubles when the cataclysm
overwhelmed us. But its prospects seemed entirely rosy, and on
the rehabilitation (if any) of the institution, it should grow
rapidly in size and efficiency.
In 1940-41, the numbers of Undergraduates in the
several Faculties were (in round numbers, and to the best of my
unaided recollection):-
Medicine, 350.
Engineering, 200.
230
Arts, 150. Science, 50. Total, 750.
of nationalities:
Our student body has always included a great variety
Chinese (from many provinces), British, Japanese,
Malays, Indians, Siamese, Javanese, Russians, Portuguese, and
Eurasians.
It may be of interest to add that the University's
relations with the Chungking Government have been increasingly
intimate and cordial, and the demand for Hong Kong Graduates in
China steadily growing. Also, just when everything fell about
our ears, we were inaugurating new and hopeful schemes for
collaboration between the University and local firms (Taikoo Dock
and Kowloon Dock, the H.K. Electric Company, the China Light and
Power Co, etc.) for the practical training, both undergraduate and
post-graduate, of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers.
Works Dept. of the Colonial Government would, we hoped, collaborate
on generally similar lines for the training of Civil Engineers.
The Public
A word as to myself, as affecting my right and capacity
to speak for the University:- For many years I have been senior