134
the needs and far beyond the resources of the Colony. Even if all the recommenda- tions of the 1939 Committee had been implemented, as possibly, but for the war, chey would have been, the result would have been an institution still inadequate for the greater aim. His Majesty's Government in both the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office was satisfied of the essential soundness of the aim and of the necessity of financial assistance from the Treasury for its fulfilment. The present Committee has considered this large question afresh and endorses the opinion of the Foreign Office recorded in the Memorandum to the War Cabinot already referred to, that "the University is a valuable instrument for propagating British ideals and spreading British influence in China and that it should be given all the support and assistance possible in increasing its usefulness in this respect". The Memorandum adds "The outbrea of war made it impracticable however, to pursue the question of financial assistance and expansion". The war having ended, the Committee conceives it to be its function to mako recommendation on this matter for the ronowed consideration of His Majesty's Government.
Short-term Policy. 6.
Is a University necessary for Hong Kong?
But under its Terms of Reference the Committee must consider also the immediate re-establishing of an institution adequate to meet the needs of the Colony. Demands from Hong Kong for an early resumption of teaching are natural and must receive sympathetic consideration. The two questions to which the Committee addressed itself were (1) is a University really necessary to meet merely Colonial needs? and (2) if it is, how can it be restored to activity with the greatest speed without unduly complicating the other issue, the planning of a
University which could play a worthy part in the renascence of civil life and institutions in China?
7.
The Committee had first to consider whether, in fact, a University for purely Colonial needs was not an extravagance. Hitherto about one third of the University's students have been drawn from Malaya and the Dutch Indies; in the years 1929 - 39, 1,
1,421 out of a total of 4,320. Hereafter most of the students from these places and a proportion of the other 325 overseas Chinese who in the same period attended the University will almost certainly seek admission to the Malaya University which, we unlerstand, is projected. In the same period 1,288 Chinese students came from all parts of China, though a large proportion of the 753 Cantonese shown
in