CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932 — Page 219

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All

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to industrial enterprises.

In his Memorandum Mr Arthur Henderson says

that if the proposed measures of 1926 (the Willingdon re-

commendations) had been carried out, differences of opinion

might have arisen between the Board of Trustees and the British authorities and "friction and ill-will" might have

been "engendered out of an act which aimed at promoting

friendly relations and a good understanding between the two

peoples." This seems to show an extraordinary misconception

of what the Willingdon proposals really were. The present

settlement seems to us more liable to create "friction and ill-

will and immeasurably less likely to promote "friendly relations

and a good understanding between the two peoples" than the

to

roposed ar

settlement which was proposed and accepted by His Majesty's

Government in 1926 and has now been cast aside.

Already there

is dissatisfaction in China over the terms of the agreement,

and that dissatisfaction is likely to increase as time goes on

and as the sorry results of the new policy are more clearly

discerned. The disappointment and even dismay in Chinese

educational circles increase with every announcement made by

the Board of Trustees (and many such announcements have already

had to be made) that it has no funds with which to carry out

any plan for the advancement of education or any of the cultur-

al projects for the promotion of which it is supposed to have

come into existence. The belief is growing that Great Britain

has thrown away a magnificent opportunity to do a great service

to China and also

a great service

to herself.

directly and indirectly

In view of the existing situation and the finan-

cial impotence of the Board of Trustees, it is hardly necessary

to say that the hopes entertained before our delegation left

England, that we might be able to persuade the Board to allocate

a small portion of its funds to the promotion of Chinese studies in AM the United Kingdom, could not at present be realised

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