3.
12
6.
(comparatively) cheap assistants.
The faterials Laboratory has rendered valuable service to both
Government and private concerns by conducting reliable tests on building materials of every kind - steel, cement, concrete, timber,
and by offering useful advice in many cases.
rope, etc.
A certain amount of research on the properties of local materials
has also been conducted.
Keetings of the Engineering Society were thrown open to the Public. lembers of the staff, by reading papers and so on, endeavoured to make local engineers take a more lively interest in their profession.
The Colony would be the poorer for the loss of these servicos.
The alternative proposal for training engineers, namely a Pure
Science Degree plus 2 years in the U. K., is not without its drawbacks.
(1) It will take at least 6 years for an engineer to obtain his degree. (2) While a training in Pure Science may be a good preparation for
Electrical engineers to whom an advanced knowledge of Physics end Kathematics is of considerable value the same hardly applies to
Civil and Mechanical engineers. Chinese students in general are inclined to be bookish, to be more interested in acquiring knowledgo
than in applying it, to prefer calculation to measurement. I fear
that after 6 years of academic training with the emphasis on
theory they will not take kindly to the drudgery which is
inseparable from the duties of the ordinary junior, Civil or
Mechanical engineer. Their employment by Government-e.g. in the
P. W. D. may create difficulties. Will they, with their superior
training, be content to accept the great disparity between the terms offered to them (as Asiatics) and those of their British Colleagues?
Any attempt at equality on the other hand will rouse the resentment
of the latter!
7.
Finally, from a political point of view, it would be most
unfortunate to close down any Faculty at the present juncture.
It
would almost certainly be interpreted in some quarters as Britains'
first step in her 'retreat' from Hong Kong. There would also be some
anxiety among parents as to when the other Faculties would follow suit.