Secretariat file 21/661/46.
SAVINGRAM
To the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
From the Governor, Hong Kong.
ch
nate.....
6
March 1951.
No.
256
St. Louis Industrial School.
The St. Louis Industrial School has applied
for an interest-free loan of $600,000 to enable them to demolish their present very old-fashioned premises and to erect on the same site a really up to date school. This institution provides valuable vocational training, and, subject to the approval of Finance Committee, over which no difficulty is anticipated, I should be grateful if you would approve this loan, to be repayable over a period of eight years commencing January, 1952, by instalments of $80,000.
2.
The Salesian Society have proposed that they should guarantee repayment of the loan, and I presume that this can be accepted, even though the amount is a large one. The St. Louis Industrial School and the Aberdeen Industrial School, which are both under the control of the Salesian Society, receive subventions amounting to a total of over $50,000 per annum, and, even if a mortgage were obtained on the new school building, this would be of little practical value because Government would come in for very severe criticism if they attempted to foreclose.
3.
As I am anxious to make this payment, if approved, before the 31st March, I should be grateful if your decision could be communicated to me by telegram.
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