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54147/48
Code
OUTWARD TELEGRAM
TO HONG KONG (Sir A. Grantham)
FROM S. OF S., COLONIES.
Sept 11th October, 1948.
19.00 hrs,
IMPORTANT
No. 1049 Confidential.
Your savingram No. 444
76
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100
1.
University.
I regret delay in replying.
2. Purport of my telegram No. 639 seems to have been misunderstood. Intention was to warn you that a formal request for Colonial Development and Welfare assistance was not likely to be successful unless it were based on a detailed case which would show beyond reasonable doubt that there was room for a Colonial Development and Welfare grant of the order proposed, over and above assistance already given, in meeting the internal needs of Hong Kong.
3. Your paragraph 4. There is no question of objection to a Colonial Development and Welfare grant on ground that some students from China might in fact benefit from development thereby made possible. But population of Colony, though admittedly increased, still appears none too large to support a full scale University, and it, therefore, seems that substantial expansion of University could only be based on deliberate policy of attracting students from China. Any such objective would be outside the ambit of the Colonial Development and Welfare vote. Colonial Development and Welfare assistance could, therefore, be justified only on ground that it could profitably be used within (roughly) pre-war limits; since both Hong Kong' Government assistance and His Majesty's Government's grant are already available, any request for Colonial Development and Welfare assistance over and above these amounts would appear difficult to justify.
让。
Your paragraph 5.
It remains a reasonable supposition
that opening of Malayan University would reduce the number of students from Malaya at Hong Kong.
5. Your paragraph 6. I cannot accept suggestion that His Majesty's Government's free grant of £250,000 is being used "as a pretext" for refusing a grant from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Nor could I accept any implication (though I feel gure this was not intended) that His Majesty's Government's generosity in granting £250,000 towards the University imposes on His Majesty's Government an obligation to multiply that amount by two. The position is as set out in paragraphs 2 and 3 above.