CO129-507-1 Proposal to dispose of Boxer Indemnity funds- claim by Hong Kong university 21-12-1927 - 24-7-1928 — Page 148

SECRET (2).

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG. 21st December, 1927.

1.

151

30011/27

z 33

2014

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge Mr. Ormsby Gere's despatch No.539 of the 5th November, 1927, regarding

my application on behalf of the University of Hong Kong for

a portion of the Boxer Indemnity Funds.

2.

In my despatch No.255 of the 18th May, 1927,

I advised you that there was every prospect of the University having to close down, at the end of 1928, such existing Chinese work as it had been able to initiate at the beginning

of this year by means of certain contributions raised in

Malaya, and that its activities would have to be generally

curtailed in other directions also. The Finance Committee of

the University has recently been dealing with its estimates

of revenue and expenditure for 1928. These estimates fogy

sclosed), though expenditure has been drastically reduced,

anticipate a deficit of over $5000 on the year's working,

and in submitting them to the University Council, the

Finance Committee drew the attention of that body to the

University's serious financial outlook, pointing out that

its income is decreasing, while the expenditure to which it

stands committed is automatically increasing, and that the

Institution

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LIEUTENANT COLONEL L. C.M. S. AMERY, M.P.,

&C.,

&c.,

&c.