159
50.970
-5-
in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering will no longer be' awarded as it is recognised that the limitation of
opportunities both of practical training and of employment make expenditure on those branches of engineering unremuner- ative.
12.
Inevitably the question arises of the means whereby these developments are to be paid for, when, at the end of fifteen years, His Majesty's Government's grant is spent. Speculation on the financial situation of the Colony or of the University after that lapse of time is hazardous but a tentative statement of possibilities may be admissible.
(a)
(7)
(c)
A reorganised China in friendly relations might very greatly contribute to an enlarged and wealthier Hong Kong, to a financial condition in which the Colonial Government might be in a position to increase its contribution.
Financial conditions in the United Kingdom may wel 1 be such that His Majesty's Government might feel justified in giving financial support to the University for the reasons proposed in the Report of the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State in 1946.
The more satisfactorily the University contributes to the well-being of the Colony the more likely is it to gain the support of rich Chinese and of the British concerns that work in Hong Kong and on the China coast.
If, on the other hand, faith in the Colony's future is proved to be unfounded, the University in ten or twelve years will be faced by the necessity of planning for retrenchments. If such a course is unavoidable, it will be necessary that a decision should be made in time to allow economies and eliminati ons to be made with a minimum of loss to students and teachers.
13.
The University now proposes to demonstrate its faith in the future of the Colony by improving and strengthening itself. After much discussion within itself and with Government, it has put forward a programme that it thinks is the least possible if it is adequately to meet the needs of the Colony and at the same time, to make its contribution to the maintenance of good relations with China. But, to carry out its programme, it will be dependent on assistance for capital equipment on the Colonial Welfare and Development Fund. Detailed explanations of its requirements of this nature will be the matter of a separate despatch, but for completeness they are briefly mentioned here.
(a) A Teaching Hospital - to supplement the provision
(b)
made in the Queen Mary Hospital which was insufficient before the war and will be disastrous if, as is reasonably certain, the number of medical students is to be doubled. The cost of converting an excellent charity hospital into a Teaching Hospital, plans and estimates for the work having already been prepared, may be set down as just over $800,000 (£50,000).
Architectural studios and class-rooms. The need for the training of architects has been urged on the University over the last decade and the partial
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