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Mr. Sidebotham.
I have attached at (9) a note of the meeting at which you were in the chair and which was attended by Sir A. Morse, Mr. Chau, Sir M.K.Lo, Colonel Ride, Sir C. Cox, Mr. Adams Mr. Armitage Smith and myself.
2.
Briefly the views expressed by the Hong Kong representa- tives thereat were that :-
(a) the U.K.did not appear to have done so much for Hong Kong
as for other colonies, e.g. Malaya;
(b) the Committee, set up by the Secretary of State on 31st
December, 1945, to consider the future of the University had stated that unless the University could be re- established on a firm financial basis the damage likely to be caused by continuing it on its inadequate pre-war basis would be more detrimental to British prestige in the Far East in the long run than the immediate effect on prestige involved in a decision not to re-open the University at all;
(c) the decision to re-open the University having been taken,
H.M.G. must accept some responsibility for ensuring that it had adequate funds with which to continue its activities. If its activities had to be curtailed, this would have a very serious effect on British prestige and would also be taken as a clear sign that H.M.G. did not intend to stay in the Colony.
(a) Unless H.M.G. agreed to make a contribution to the
Endowment Fund there would be no chance of raising the money locally. If H.M.G. did contribute, however, there was a reasonable hope that the Jockey Club and big businessmen generally would raise a similar amount.
3.
As regards (a) H.M.G. have been reasonably generous towards Hong Kong as the Financial Settlement of 1948 will show. This is summarised in Column 20 of the Hansard extract at (42) on 54147/48 and states that:
(a) H.M.G. waived the costs of the military administration.
(b) treated as free grants advances made prior to the
establishment of civil government amounting to £3,250,000.
(c) made a further free grant of £1,000,000
(a) agreed to make an interest free loan of £3,000,000 towards
the airport
(e) made a free grant of £250,000 for the Hong Kong University.
4.
In addition Hong Kong has been allocated £1,000,000 from C.D & W. funds for development projects generally and in 1950 a further £250,000 was allocated fum C.D. & W. funds specifically for the University. H.M.G. are also spending an additional £5,000,000 a year on reinforcements and defence measures in Hong Kong as the result of the Far East situation.
5. In fact H.M.G. have always come to Hong Kong's assistance whenever such assistance was justified.
A
6. The statement in (b) is accurate as far as it goes. copy of the report is behind (48) on 54147/46 but a memo giving a summary of the Committee's recommendations is behind (18) on 54147/47 and Sir T. Lloyd's letters to the Treasury at (18), (31) and (40) on 54147/47 show that every effort was made to persuade the Treasury to assist financially.
7. The Treasury views were put to the Governor in the telegram at (45) on 54147/47 and the Vice Chancellor, Mr. Sloss
/was
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