CO129-583-18 Hong Kong University- British Council and Rhodes Scholarships 1-1-1940 - 31-12-1941 — Page 2

C. I.

DUCATION

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Mr. Cox.

24/5

Mr. Creasy. 24/5/40.

Sir A. Burns.

It will be remembered that immediately before the outbreak of war we had been considering urgent requests from the Governor and the Vice- Chancellor of Hong Kong University for a substantial grant from His Majesty's Government for the purpose of enabling the University to fulfil its proper role in the Far East. At its foundation some thirty years ago under the plan sponsored by Lord Lugard, the University was intended to serve not only or indeed primarily the local needs of Hong Kong, but to be an important Anglo-Chinese cultural link. Unfortunately, this fundamental purpose was largely frustrated at the start by the outbreak of the successful republican revolution in China and the flood of ultra-nationalist feeling which in one form or another has de facto authorities in China ever since. Swept along

the

In the present dire need of China for higher education facilities for its doctors, engineers and future generation of statesmen, and with the havoc and disturbance caused to the many previously flourishing Universities in China by the Japanese invasion, the Governor and the Vice-Chancellor have seen a special opportunity in which the original and essential function of the Hong Kong University could be restored, and the Vice-Chancellor himself has secured from Chiang Kai Chek and other Chinese leaders every promise of practical support and cooperation.

We had secured the Foreign Office approval and support for a request to H.M.G. to consider a substantial financial grant to the University for this purpose, but unfortunately the outbreak of war has dictated the Treasury's inability to accede to our request at this juncture. The Hong Kong Government's own subsidy to the University is on a heavy scale and has been increasing and must be further increased even for the purpose of maintaining the University's existing functions which fall far short of its real purpose of serving Anglo-Chine se interests. The

suggestion has been made that it might be possible for a grant under the new Colonial Development Act to be made for the University, but it has I think rightly) been held that the expenditure of money out of that' grant for the purpose of serving the needs of China, even though it is politically desirable, is scarcely within the objects of Colonial Development.

Mr. Sloss, the Vice-Chancellor, has impressed on us that an important aspect of the proposed risorgimento of the University is that it should not merely be the result of assistance from the local funds of the Hong Kong Government, but that it is necessary, for the conviction both of Chinese philanthropists (from whom handsome contributions are hoped for) and also the Chinese Government leaders themselves, that what is done shall be manifestly done in association with the British Government and as a matter of British and not merely Colonial policy. One can see the force of that view, and indeed the Hong Kong Government itself could not possibly supply the extra funds

necessary