CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932 — Page 149

!

240

26

CHINA REPORT

III.

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE DELEGATION AS TO THE Disposal of THE FUNDS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE UNIVERSITIES' CHINA COMMITTEE.

In Section II. of this Report we gave priority to the second of our terms of reference because of the primary and fundamental import- ance of the questions which we considered it necessary to raise under that head. In discussing those questions we drew attention to what we believe to be the unfortunate results of what seems to have been a change of policy on the part of His Majesty's Government, culminating in the Exchange of Notes of September, 1930, and in the China Indemnity (Application) Act of 1931. We have had to face the possibility that the Board of Trustees will find itself powerless, even if it has the will, to give effect to Dr. C. T. Wang's undertaking that the funds would be dealt with in harmony with the general views set forth in the Reports of Lord Buxton's Advisory Committee and of Lord Willingdon's Delegation in 1926. In carrying out the instructions contained in the first of our terms of reference and in framing our recommendations concerning the utilisation of the rela- tively small sum at the disposal of the Universities' China Committee, we have borne in mind the fact that we are directed to consider "the " of the Committee, most effective way of carrying out the purposes but we have found ourselves unable to base our proposals, as we had hoped to do, on the confident assumption that the activities of the Committee would be merely supplementary to those in which the Board of Trustees would engage with much greater resources and on a much larger scale. The recommendations which follow may therefore be regarded as independent of anything which the Board of Trustees may do or may leave undone. Their adoption will, indeed, go but a very little way towards realising the ambitious hopes expressed in the Willingdon Report; nevertheless they are in harmony with the spirit of that Report, and should fit into any more com- prehensive scheme that may hereafter be adopted by the Board of Trustees when or if it finds itself in control of the resources which at present seem to be beyond its reach.

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE DELEGATION

(a) Visiting Lectureships.

27

In the first place we recommend that provision be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of Lectureships tenable by distinguished British scholars in China and by distinguished Chinese scholars in Great Britain. That at least a portion of the £200,000 granted to the Universities' China Committee should be devoted to this purpose was taken for granted by the Committee from the beginning. Thus in the first of our terms of reference we were instructed not only to consult with representatives of the Chinese universities and others as to the most effective way of carrying out the purposes of the Committee" but "in particular to advise the Committee in regard to the Chinese men and women who should be invited to visit and lecture in the United Kingdom and in regard to what subjects should be represented by the British men and women invited to lecture in China". This was of course in accordance with the First Schedule appended to the Act of Parliament, where it is stated that the money was to be applied by the Universities' China Committee to the following purpose among others:"To arrange for such men and women to visit and lecture in the United Kingdom and such British men and women to visit and lecture in China as may seem to them suitable ".

We assume throughout this Report that the money handed over to the Committee will be so invested as to produce 44 per cent. interest, thus ensuring a regular income of £9,000. Of this £9,000 we recom- mend that £3,000 be set aside for the lectureship scheme; that an average number of four lecturers, of whom two should be Chinese, be appointed each year; and that each lecturer be remunerated at a rate not exceeding £750 inclusive of all travelling and other expenses.

JJ

remunera-

The reason why we mention £750 as the "maximum tion is that there may be cases in which a smaller amount would be sufficient for the purpose. For example, a Chinese scholar visiting Europe at his own expense or at the expense of the Chinese Govern- ment or some academic body, might be invited when in England to deliver a course of lectures there under the auspices of the Universities' China Committee. His remuneration would naturally be on a lower scale than that of one who came to England at the Committee's invitation and perhaps had to sacrifice part of his regular income in doing so. A British scholar visiting China in analogous circum- stances might similarly be granted a smaller sum than the possible maximum.

24