CO129-594-3 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee- minutes of... 18-1-1946 - 9-4-1946 — Page 244

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If

He said he was sure the members would welcome

Mr. Sloss's reappearance among them (applause).

anybody thought from his appearance and manner that his 3 years in Stanley Camp had been spent in a sort

of health resort, they would no doubt know from other

information that this was not so.

Sis. Fower yo

The paper to which he would draw the particular attention of the Committee was No. HKUAC 3, which was

drawn up hefore VE Day let alone VJ Day, the idea of the

Colonial Office being to remind the Cabinet in good

time of the importance of Hong Kong University. At that time and sinee, it was no secret that the British

position in Hong Kong was questioned, not necessarily

for good reasons, but questioned on nationalist grounds

in China. The position we had to face after the war in

the

China was that all Powers had abandoned the extra⇒

territorial rights which they obtained in China and

That position elsewhere.

defended in various way. For instance, when the place

The British Colony o none Kony could be

was ceded to us a hundred years ago it was a barren rock

Daly

inhabited by a few fishermen; and nothing cize. the

terial growth of Hong Kong, which is now one of the

great ocean ports of the world and a centre of business,

largel

is entirely a British product. But there is something

more than merely buildings, port, wharves, etc. There

concomitents

are courts, police and all the other things which assist in preserving law and order not only mean a settled

which

aro

provide

life in Hong Kong itself but is of value to China as well

gene rally Before the war the population of Hong Kong

was about one million. When the Japanese overthrew and

!

Occupied South China, the population of Hong Kong rose

to something like two million, and the Colony was faced

with the problem of supporting a population twice its

normal size. In a centre of disturbance Hong Kong ha

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valuable oasis for Chinese industry, and if

vote were taken in South China, Sir Edward thought there

3.

was