CO129-583-18 Hong Kong University- British Council and Rhodes Scholarships 1-1-1940 - 31-12-1941 — Page 69

53611/40.

Hong Kong.

69.

(*4282-150) Wt. 38815-61 10,000 12/39 T.S. 695

C. O.

Mr. Greenhill. 28/5/40.

Mr.

Gent 3015

A. Buns

Mr. C. J. Jeffries.

For the Secretary of State's signature

30/5

and 2

Downing Street,

1940.

June

Mr. A. J. Dawe.

Sir J. Shuckburgh.

Permt. U.S. of S.

Parly. U.S. of S.

Secretary of State.

516700

DRAFT. for conson.

The LORD ELTON,

(Rhodes Trust,

Seymour House,

Waterloo Place,

S.W. 1.)

FURTHER ACTION.

For some time past the Colonial

Office and the Government of Hong Kong have

been much concerned with the question of the

future policy of the University of Hong Kong.

The University

was founded some 30 years ago as the

which wa

result of a scheme sponsored by Lord Lugard, under which it was intended that the t

University should serve not only, or indeed

primarily, the local needs of the Colony, but that it should provide 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 swept along the successive

regimes in South China ever since.

On the other hand, the present dire

need of China for higher education facilities

for its doctors, engineers, and future

generation of statesmen, coupled with the havoc and disturbance caused to the many previously

flourishing Universities in China by the

Japanese invasion, has presented an opportunity

for considering the restoration of the

original and essential functions of Hong Kong

University. Not only had the University authorities secured from Chiang Kai Shek, and

other