}
164
aintenance of a University institution of high standards is or great advantage to the inhabitants of Hong Kong needs no argument. We and the Foreign Office believe also that such an institution, at which students from all parts of China and indeed from other countries in South Eastern Asia can acquire a British education will have value for British influence and prestige which can never be exactly measured but is certainly worth paying for. In a wide view it is arguable that it is by sunk means, by the spread of knowledge of the British way of life and British habits of thought, that our influence in the world can most effectively be maintained. It was in such a spirit that the liong Kong University was originally founded by lugard, it was in the same spirit that plans vere prepared in 1969 for its extension and revivification; and it is with the same object that we now want re-create the institution after its temporary eclipse. I do not want to overstate the case, but the effect on our prestige of failure to re- establish it now is obvious.
The financial proposals envisage contribu- tions from the Colony's own funds, and Iron Colonial evelopment and elfare funds available for the promotion of hi her education in the Colonies themselves, and also additional contribu- tions from the United Kingdom Exchequer to correspond with the wider British interest
Although there are many other calls both on Fong Kong's own resources for the Colony's rehabilitation and future development, and on Colonial Development
and