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Congregation Opened.
The Chancellor declared the Con- gregation open in the following terms: I declare this congrega- tion open for the conferring of degrees."
The Vice-Chancellor then rose, bowed to the Chancellor and the Congregation and then addressed the assembly.
THE VICE-CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS.
HONORARY DEGREE FOR MR. R. F. JOHNSTON,
The Vice-Chancellor, Mr. W. W. Hornell, said:-
"6
My first act this afternoon is to welcome the Chancellor back to the University. His Excellency is not only the University's Chan- cellor, but its champion.
"I will ask Your Excellency to confer honoris causa this Univer- sity's degree of Doeter of Laws on His Honour Reginald Fleming John- ston, Master of Arts of the Univer- sity of Oxford and Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire." The Vice-Chan- cellor then briefly explained the reasons for the delay in conferring this degree, suggested 13 years ago by Sir Henry May.
He continued :-
"His Honour Mr. Johnston is too well-known to need a long introduc- tion at my hands. He was born in Scotland and went in due course to Edinburgh University. From Edin- burgh he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, and it was then that his friendship with our Chancellor began.
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'Mr. Johnston, as he then was, worked in Hong Kong till 1904. He then went to Wei-hai-wei as Secre- tary to that Government. From 1906-1917 he was Senior District Officer and Magistrate in Wei-hai- wei, and during 1917 and 1918 he administered that Government. From 1918 to 1925 Mr. Johnston acted as Tutor to the Ex-Emperor of China. He was appointed Warden of the Summer Palace in 1924 and in November of that year he brought the Ex--Emperor into the Legation Quarter of Peking. He was Secretary to the China In- demnity Delegation in 1926. In 1927 he went back to Wei-hai-wei as Commissioner.
"When Sir Henry May informed Mr. Johnston, in 1916, that the University wished to confer him its honorary degree, he explain-
on
·
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ed that the University desired to do so in recognition of the literary work which Mr. Johnston had done on the history and existing condi- tions of China.
"Our First Chancellor." "The New Year's Honours. list of 1928, raised our first Chancellor and the University's practical founder, to the Peerage. Lord Lugard has done great service for his King and Country in many parts of the world. In replying to my congratulations he did not hesitate to say that he looked back on no event with greater satisfaction and pleasure than the creation of this University.
"Last year we lost by death Dr. Joseph Bartlett Addison and Mr. Jackman, both of whom served on the Council and Court of the University. Both were good friends to this Institution and the Univer- sity deplores their loss.
"Toward the end of last year a very sad thing happened. Miss Tso Sook Ki died on the 28th November. The eldest daughter of Dr. Tso Seen Wan, she was a medical student who was about to enter with the highest hopes for the final examination of the Medical Course. She got blood poisoning and the end came with tragic quickness. A hard- working student and one much be- loved by her fellows. (Hear, hear.)
Hong Kong's First Woman Doctor.
"Two years ago our first woman graduate in medicine, Miss Eva Ho Tung was presented for her degree. Miss Ho Tung had done exceedingly well here and was in fact an out- standing student. She went to London and did very well at the London Tropical School of Medicine and in the University of London. From London she went to Dublin and she has since become a member
of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The Head of the Rotunda Hospital has written to our Professor of Obstetrics and Gyne- cology to say that Miss Ho Tung's work was of outstanding merit.
"Sir Robert Ho Tung is one of the University's great benefactors that his daughter's quite remark- and I hope that Sir Robert feels
able achievements may be regarded
as
a satisfactory return for the money which he has put into this afternoon's ceremony I shall have University. In the course of this the pleasure of presenting Your Ex- cellency with another Sir Robert's daughters as winner of one of the University's scholarships. The giver of the scholarship which Miss Jean Ho Tung has won. was the late lamented Mr. Ho Fook. There is | nothing like keeping scholarships in the family. (Hear, hear!, and laughter.)
"C
Valued Donations.
During 1928, Mr. Kwok Siu Lau gave University $50,000 and requested His Excellency to make the best use he could of the money. His Excellency, after consulting the Senate and Council, decided to de- vote the money to the Department of Biology. I may added that in the course of the last few months Dr. Herklots has joiner us as Reader in Biology.
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'In the course of the last year, the Hon. Sir Shou-son Chow and the Hon. Mr. Kotewall, went out into the highways and hedges to gather money for a Chinese School. A sum of $170,000 has already been collected and a further contribution of $30,000 has been guaranteed. These sums are exclusive of a con- · tribution which the University has already received from the generous hands of Mr. Tang Chi Ngong, now a member of the University's Court, as is also Mr. Kwok Siu Lau.
"Government also sanctioned a special and supplementary grant of 32,200. On the strength of these. sums, a special diploma course in Chinese Classics, and English, is being started from the beginning of this year.
His Excellency And The Study of Chinese.
"The Chinese who are interested in the University know quite well that had it not been for our Chan- cellor, the attempt initiated two years ago, on the strength of $40,000 collected in Malaya, to pro- vide better facilities in this Univer-
have had to be abandoned alto- sity for the study of Chinese, would gether. It is now for the Chinese i to show that they appreciate what has been done for them by support-
ing this special course.
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"China is stumbling forward into new phase of national exist- ence. Our Chancellor believes that national character is an abiding product of a nation's past, and he challenges China and the World to show that those who are going to try and guide the China of the future can afford to ignore its momentous past.
Changes In Staff.
"Professor Earle and Professor
Anderson left us during 1928, drawn away to Shanghai by the wealthy Lester Trust.
"In Dr. Earle's place we have Professor L. T. Ride from the Physiological Department of Guy's Hospital. Here the University has been exceedingly fortunate.
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