CO129-534-3 Report of Retrenchment Commission 4-5-1931 - 19-2-1932 — Page 158

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scale than the existing building.

•

From an inspection of the

present premises it can be realised that the School has boen built and the grounds laid out in the most lavish manner, with the result that the upkeep will be a heavy annual charge, and one which will very likely and from time to time cause

applications to be made for further aid from the public funds of the Colony. Although such assistance on the part of the Government might be considered a laudable action, the Commissioners feel that it would be unfair to finance only one single institution when it might mean neglect of the elementary education of those thousands for whom the Government at present does nothing, though the Commission considers that it will be

compelled to do so in the future The Commissioners would at

this juncture point out that they can find no record in the Reports of the Director of Education or of the Inspectors of English Schools of these officers having in any way commented upon the heavy expenditure on buildings by the Diocesan Boys School, nor do they appear to have foreseen a possible default in the repayments to the Government, although they must have had sufficient details and statements of account to have realised the financial situation of the institution in question.

4 3.

The Commissioners would finally suggest that, if such an arrangement can be arrived at, the proceeds of the sale of the site of the present Central British School, together with the balance, after providing for the Diocesan Boys' School, of the one million dollars proposed for the erection of the new Central British School, be earmarked in the future, and as the finances of the Colony permit, to provide establishments which will be necessary for the provision of elementary education for the children of the Chinese residents of the Kowloon

peninsula.