CO129-403 - Governor Sir May Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1913 [8-10] — Page 251

3. Enclosure 3

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COPY.

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Note of Conversation with Mr. McPherson, Chinese Young Men's

Christian Association.

Mr. McPherson called by appointment and said that Dr.

Mott, who was now in London, was very anxious to know how the

question of the sale of the site in Bridges Street (for the pur-

-pose of the Chinese Young Men's Christian Association) stood.

I asked Mr. McPherson to state categorically what it was that the Chinese Y. M. C. A. wanted. He said all they wanted was

to be able to acquire a site by means of local subscriptions for a

Y.M.C.A. building to be used as a Club with usual reading, recrea-

-tion rooms, and if possible a gymnasium and swimming-bath; and a

hall for the purpose of lectures on educational and other subjects.

I asked if it was proposed that the whole of the money

(875,000 Gold) which Dr. Mott and others were prepared to raise in America for buildings for the above purposes should be expended on

the site. He said yes, but that Sir Kai Ho Kai had suggested that part of the $75,000 gold should be devoted to a building to be

erected in Kowloon, in which technical instruction in the Chinese

language (especially in mechanical engineering) should be given to

Chinese. Mr. McPherson in answer to my question said, that he and

other officials and supporters of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. were not in

favour of the undertaking of educational projects of this nature

by the Y.M.C.A. for the reason that they did not see their way to finance such projects. He assured me that the only reason why this

project of a technical school in connection with the Chinese Y.M.C.

A. had been raised was that Sir Kai Ho Kai had clearly intimated

that only on condition of its inclusion would he support the rais-

-ing of subscriptions locally for the acquisition of the site which

was a condition precedent to obtaining the $75,000 gold grant for

the buildings.

I told Mr. McPherson that under no circumstances whatever

would I support any proposal for the sale of land to the Chinese

Y.M.C.A. in order to further, directly or indirectly, the establish

-ment