CO129-446 - Others & Individuals - 1917 — Page 577

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funds which you had undertaken to contribute.

Eventually,

the Hospital Committee declined the offer, mainly, we think,

for the reason that they came to see that its acceptance

would involve the expenditure there of all your funds,

leaving nothing for the parent institution.

A proposal to house the Hongkong Extension in a

furnished house, No. 19 Stratford Place, was now favourably

considered. The initial outlay would not have been great,

but the large dimensions of the house made it probabls that

the cost of upkeep would be high. Negotiations for the

lease dragged on for a long time, during which it was

increasingly borne in upon us that prices generally were

likely to rise still further and, in particular, the price

of drugs and other medical necessaries and we became

apprehensive lest it might prove difficult to keep the

expenditure within the limits of your contribution.

This

apprehension was apparently not shared by the other members

of the Hospital Committee who, in their desire to take

this house, seemed indifferent to the prospect of all your

funds, and even more, being spent upon it. It was

against this latter prospect that it now became necessary

to provide. For this reason.

Hongkong's name upon the