3
24
If
He said he was sure the members would welcome
Mr. Sloss's reappearance among them (applause).
anybody thought from his appearance and manner that his 3 years in Stanley Camp had been spent in a sort
of health resort, they would no doubt know from other
information that this was not so.
Sis. Fower yo
The paper to which he would draw the particular attention of the Committee was No. HKUAC 3, which was
drawn up hefore VE Day let alone VJ Day, the idea of the
Colonial Office being to remind the Cabinet in good
time of the importance of Hong Kong University. At that time and sinee, it was no secret that the British
position in Hong Kong was questioned, not necessarily
for good reasons, but questioned on nationalist grounds
in China. The position we had to face after the war in
the
China was that all Powers had abandoned the extra⇒
territorial rights which they obtained in China and
That position elsewhere.
defended in various way. For instance, when the place
The British Colony o none Kony could be
was ceded to us a hundred years ago it was a barren rock
Daly
inhabited by a few fishermen; and nothing cize. the
terial growth of Hong Kong, which is now one of the
great ocean ports of the world and a centre of business,
largel
is entirely a British product. But there is something
more than merely buildings, port, wharves, etc. There
concomitents
are courts, police and all the other things which assist in preserving law and order not only mean a settled
which
aro
provide
life in Hong Kong itself but is of value to China as well
gene rally Before the war the population of Hong Kong
was about one million. When the Japanese overthrew and
!
Occupied South China, the population of Hong Kong rose
to something like two million, and the Colony was faced
with the problem of supporting a population twice its
normal size. In a centre of disturbance Hong Kong ha
been 27
valuable oasis for Chinese industry, and if
vote were taken in South China, Sir Edward thought there
3.
was