CO129-561-7 Hong Kong University 4-1-1937 - 22-9-1937 — Page 113

The new most undesirable,

- 13 -

pretensions and cost should be restricted.

It is clear

that there is still a vast need for engineering knowledge

in China and it is important to retain the pre sent

framework of the Faculty ready for the expansion which

a closer contact with China (and a greater realization

by her of the advantages which Hong Kong University

can offer) may well bring in their train. It is

tempting from the immediate practical point of view to

suggest that the present expenditure on the Faculty

could be better employed in providing students with an

engineering degree in an English provincial University

with all the facilities for practical training on the

spot. But there is the language difficulty; there is

the danger of complete loss of touch with Chinese life

and sentiment; and there is the vital consideration of

prestige.

38.

MEDICAL.

It might seem at a first glance that much

that we have said in relation to the Engineering Faculty

will apply with equal force to the Medical Faculty.

There were the same ideals of the founders to give an

awaking China the benefits of Western science; there

have been the same unforeseen developments of efficiently

conducted rival institutions in China proper; and there

has been, but even more markedly than in the case of

Engineering, that same diffidence on the part of

graduates to take their knowledge into China.

39.

It is therefore clear that, if our

recommendations in the two cases are not only different

but almost antithetical, some justification for such a