-3-
unless it's financial viability could be assured there was no point
in reopening, the University. As H.M.G. had pressed for the reopening
of the University they, therefore, had some responsibility to ensure
that it had adequate funds to continue its activities.
86
Colonel Ride said that if nothing was done about the University and
it ceased to function, room would have to be found for the students elsewhere,
e.g. in universities in the United Kingdom. He pointed out that this
would be against the policy of the Inter-University Council which had
recommended that colonies should accept full responsibility for higher
education and persuade students to obtain this in their own territories.
Sir Man Kam Lo stressed that H.M.G. must be aware that the Hong Kong
Government had contributed to the University annually and had recently
increased its subsidy.
Sir C. Cox suggested that we could not accept a refusal by the
Treasury to agree to a contribution from H.M.G. without referring the matter
to Ministers. He felt sure that the proposal would not go through without
a guarantee that whatever contribution H.M.G. gave would be matched by a
similar contribution by the Colony, and at the same time we should try and
foresee and answer possible Treasury objections. One might be that if
students from Hong Kong can go to the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. would it
not be possible to raise the fees. Colonel Ride and Mr. Adams both said
that the fees charged in Hong Kong are already higher than those charged
here. They are, in fact, higher than an "economic" rate, i.e. it is cheaper
for students to go to universities in the U.K. and the States if they can
find places.
Mr. Sidebotham said that Hong Kong was a colony with an extremely
flourishing trade and any amount of money. Why couldn't the Colony raise
all the money required.
Sir A. Morse pointed out that the colony had had to rehabilitate
itself at its own cost and without any help. He did not think that any
fortunes had been made in Hong Kong recently although he admitted that
many people might appear to be well off but that was another matter.
Sir Man Kam Lo said that although he and others wanted the
University to continue there were some who would like to see the University
/closed