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this connection of what his Excellency the Chancellor has already brought to your notice, namely, that on account of scholars sent to the University, the Peking Government and other governments of China are still in the University's debt to the extent of over one hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars.
4. Among the proposals in connection with which his Excellency the Chancellor has approached your Lordship is a scheme for establishing in the University of Hong Kong a Faculty of Chinese studies. His Excellency deprecates the comparative neglect with which Chinese studies have hitherto been treated in the University, and is emphatic in his view that this defect should be made good as soon as possible. With this view we are in complete agreement. The scheme for a Chinese Faculty, which is now being laid before your Lordship, will not only provide facilities for the study of Chinese classics by Chinese students and for the com- parative study by such students of the English and Chinese languages, but it will also he designed to afford opportunities for Britishers, both civil servants and commercial men, to acquire the Chinese language..
5. When the University of Hong Kong was started, stress was laid on the undesirability of sending immature Chinese boys far away from their homes and traditions and customs of their country to be educated in Europe and America. The Canton Viceroy, quoted above, was particularly emphatic regarding this danger. We desire to impress upon your Lordship and your colleagues that this danger, far from having ceased, is now more acute than ever.
6. Indiscipline is now too common among students throughout China. From all quarters comes the same complaint that students have become a law to themselves. and that they insist on choosing their own teachers, their own studies, the hours that they shall work, and the sort of examinations they shall take. Above all, some students meddle in politics. We need scarcely remind your Lordship that such actions and ideas are subversive to all that the Chinese venerate. Fortunately, our University has shown itself immune from such troubles, and we feel that it is a Amid all the troubles which have proper corrective for these errors of training.
beset Hong Kong in the last nine months the conduct and discipline of the students in the University has been admirable. The atmosphere which prevails in the University is one in which the student, within the strict limits of reasonable rules which he must obey, enjoys almost complete liberty; it is an atmosphere from which We are graduates can safely and profitably pass into higher studies elsewhere. glad to hear that among the proposals which have been laid before your Lordship is a scheme of post-graduate scholarships, tenable by ex-students of the Kong Kong University in Great Britain.
7. Medical degrees of the Hong Kong University are recognised by the General Medical Council of Great Britain as a qualification for registration. Honours in the Engineering Faculty are only awarded on the assessment of a Professor of Engineering of the University of London. Indeed, the standards of the Hong Kong University generally are recognised as equivalent to the standards which prevail in British Universities. This is a very great advantage to the Chinese students, and it would, we submit, be deplorable if the present financial difficulties of the Colony should lead to the deterioration of the University's work.
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8. The University of Kong Kong has received generous support in the past from the Chinese of the Colony; but so large an undertaking, which was designed to serve not only Hong Kong but also of the whole of China, cannot be entirely maintained by the inhabitants of the Colony by reason of the smallness of their numbers. It is therefore but reasonable and fair that the University should receive some substantial support from China and the Imperial Government. The allocation of a portion of the Boxer Indemnity to the University would fulfil both these conditions, since the money is derived from Chinese sources, and will also represent an Imperial contribution. We accordingly appeal with confidence to your Lordship and the other members of the Deputation for your support, and ask you not to be misled by fallacious political arguments into the neglect of an educationn institution in which the Chinese have confidence, and which, if it could be provided with adequate funds, would be of incalculable value to the Chinese, not only in Hong Kong but throughout China.
We are. My Lord,
Your most obedient servants.
(Signed)
CHOW SHOU-SON. R. H. KOTEWALL.
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Cesentated by the S-d5. fo the Colmies
MEMORANDUM FOR THE FRIVE MINISIMUA
S
SÕLMITTAT
ALIENA
THE BOXER INDEMNITY cet
448
As my colleagues are aware, the report of the Advisory Committee appointed under the China Indemnity (Application) Act 1925, which has recently been published as and. No. 2766, was based largely
on the report of a Delegation of six British and
Chinese members, headed by Lord Willingdon, who toured
China during the first half of this year in order to
gain first-hand knowledge of existing conditions and requirements.
The recommendations of the Advisory Committee have in turn given rise to the China Indemnity (Amendment) Bill 1926, which the Cabinet recently
decided should not be proceeded with at the present
time, in view of the fact that the whole situation in
China is under the consideration of this Committee.
Before any further decision is taken on the
subject of the Bill, I think that my colleagues would
wish to read the accompanying despatch from the
Governor of Hong Kong containing a critical examina-
tion of the Delegation's report. Sir C. Clementi is
doubtless influenced in his attitude by the fact that
Hong Kong University was neglected by the Delegation,
but when all allowances have been made for the indig-
nation which such neglect might be expected to arouse
in the Colony I must confess that I find his criticisms very damaging, if not destructive.
In
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