HONG KONG UNIVERSITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
DRAFT REPORT.
As Government holidays continue over the week-end it will be im- possible to get Part III of the Draft Report printed in time for the meet- ing on Tuesday, 11th. June, 1946.
Part I The form discussed at the last meeting stands till after the form of Part II is approved with the following amendments proposed by Sir Hum- phrey Prideaux Brune: (1) Para. 1. line 8: For "Disastrous", substitute "detrimental".
".....in spite of any immediate effect on prestige
and the loss to British cultural relations with China which such a decision would entail".
(2)
(3)
3.
" 11:
4: ".....because we envisage a lasting scope for its
special functions and its representational
(4)
(5)
4.
" 13:
11 20:
On page 2, lines 1 sentences.
tt
character, irrespective of political changes which the future may hold in store".
..... Partly with substantial foreign assistance,
no doubt mainly from American sources".
.....that we are uncertain of the future for British interests in the Far East, or regard the commerce of ideas as a matter of secondary concern".
7, it is proposed to invert the order of the two first
A draft of a preface to the Report is sent with this note.
4th. June, 1946.
DRAFT PREFACE.
The Committee has regarded its task as being in the nature of an ex- ploratory survey, and has been conscious that decisions on the basic questions referred to in paragraph (a) of the terms of reference must ultimately be subject to considerations of high policy, financial and political, some of which will depend on various factors necessarily lying outside the cognizance of the Committee.
After considering the broad issue in the light of the individual know- ledge and experience of its members, and of the relevant factors so far as they are known to them, the Committee has no hesitation in expressing an affirmative opinion on the fundamental question, "whether or not the University as such should continue to exist". This recommendation is, how- ever, for the above reasons offered with the qualification that it is depend- ent on financial and political considerations not fully within the Committees cognizance, and with the further proviso that it depends on acceptance of the Committee's recommendation on the subsidiary question mentioned in paragraph (a), namely, the policy which should govern the resuscitation of the University.
Our recommendations under paragraph (a) are stated briefly in Part I of our Report. The facts and arguments on which we base them are set out in Part II. We next give, in Part III, an outline of the scheme which we con- siler would be appropriate for the development of the University in a revived
Part IV ex- form, having regarl to the special circumstances of the case.
plains the financial implications of our proposals, so far as it is at present possible to assess them. Finally, in Part V we deal with the immed- iate action called for, which covers the question referred to us in para- graph (b) of the terms of reference.