CO129-573-9 Kowloon Golf Club- alternative site 20-6-1938 - 28-10-1938 — Page 11

No.718.

Sir,

3 53926/38

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG.

26th September, 1938.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt

of your despatch No.231 of 28th July, 1938, on the subject

of a golf course for the Kowloon Golf Club.

2.

It should perhaps be explained at the outset

that membership of the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, which

obtained a lease of land in the New Territories on favourable

terms as shown in Mr. Harcourt's despatch No.11 of 10th

January, 1913, though open to persons of any race or social

standing, is in such demand that it has of necessity to be

restricted by the process of ballot. The natural outcome

of this has been that membership has been confined to

Europeans of a certain position: in fact no Chinese or

Eurasians have ever applied for election. The Kowloon Golf

Club, therefore, has been a great boon to the less wealthier

Europeans such as subordinate officers of this Government,

junior employees of commercial firms, mercantile marine

officers of lower grades and numerous others who by force

of circumstances find themselves unable to avail themselves

of the amenities provided by the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club.

Among the members of the Kowloon Golf Club are a few Chinese

and Eurasians who have taken to the game. It is pertinent to mention also that the principal courses of the Royal

Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling lie 25 miles away from the

ferry

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,

&C.,

&C.,

&C.