CO129-576-5 Hong Kong University 13-6-1939 - 23-11-1939 — Page 152

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mended.

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63. The General Library is overcrowded: space for reading rooms for students and staff is already inadequate. If the Engineering building recom- mended earlier in this Report were constructed and when the Science Departments are transferred to the new laboratories, a good deal of space for library expansion will become available. space that cannot be used economically since the The gift rooms were not designed for library use. of a new Library building, with ample stock rooms and reading rooms, would be a noble memorial to a Chinese citizen of Hong Kong.

It is

64. We recommend the expenditure yearly for

at least a period of seven years;

(i) of $2,000, on the Hankow Library; (ii) of $4,000, rather than of the lump sum asked for by the Professor of Chinese, on the Fung Ping Shan Library;

(iii) of $16,000, on the General Library for the supply of essential standard works and for the extensions necessary to provide for the development of University studies.

This would mean that during these years the University would be spending on its libraries a fraction of its income that corresponds with the like expenditure in some of the English Univer- sities.

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Chapter XI.

Transfer and Rebuilding of University.

65. We are unanimously of opinion that if this Report is accepted, and if development is to proceed, the question of the transfer of the Uni- versity to a new site must at once be considered: (i) The University, where it now stands, is retarding the development of the town to- wards the South and West. When it was founded the land immediately surrounding it was undeveloped; to-day, the area between the University and the harbour is one of the most thickly populated in Hong Kong. (ii) From the University point of view a chief reason for a transfer is that the amusements and attractions of the town are too near its door. Such disciplinary trouble as is en- countered almost entirely arises from this. The proximity of the town has made for a far higher general rate of expenditure on amusements than can be justified. The lack of good athletic grounds, to which reference has already been made is an in- convenience incidental to the geographical position of the University. Further, at every recommendation that it has made, the Committee has been conscious that there is on the present site no room for development; it is admirable for houses, even for blocks of flats, but can only wastefully be used for large buildings.

(iii) An argument against transfer is that capital This is sunk in buildings would be lost. undoubtedly true. For purposes of insur- ance, the buildings of the University are valued at about one and a half million dollars. An appendix to this Report gives details of this valuation. On the other hand, the site, which belongs to Government, is held by the University only so long as it is used for University purposes.

Its value must have increased enormously by the spread of the town on three sides of it. We do not think that the land is economically