ENG-1964 — Page 303

HISTORY

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who met the entire cost of the main building. With the aid of subsequent benefactors and increasing government support the University has steadily developed traditions suited to its unique position as an English-speaking University in a Chinese environ- ment. It soon attracted students from the mainland and south- east Asia, and won for itself the loyalty of the local community.

The special needs of the Chinese population received early con- sideration. Originally it was intended to let them live under their own law administered by Chinese officials, but this idea was found to be impracticable and was abandoned. Instead, the ideal of equality for all races under the law became the guiding principle, and the revised Governor's Instructions of-1865 forbade him to agree to any ordinance 'whereby persons of African or Asiatic birth may be subjected to any disabilities or restrictions to which persons of European birth or descent are not also subjected.' The protection of Chinese interests was the duty of the Registrar- General, a post created in 1845. His responsibilities grew, com- mensurate with the influence of the Chinese community until, in 1913, his post was re-named Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The Tung Wah, a charitable Chinese institution founded in 1870 to run hospitals and generally care for the indigent Chinese, also became an important body representative of responsible Chinese opinion.

The Colony's earliest hospitals were run by missionary bodies, the first government medical officer being appointed in 1847 to treat prisoners in the gaol and the police. He opened a small make- shift hospital the following year which served until 1859 when a Government Civil Hospital was opened. This was destroyed by the 1874 typhoon and adjoining buildings had to be requisitioned. On this site now stand the modern Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital and the Sai Ying Pun Jockey Club Clinic. The Kowloon Govern- ment Hospital was opened in 1925 and the Queen Mary Hospital, one of the largest and most up-to-date in Asia, in 1937. Both these government hospitals have been eclipsed in size by the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon.

The entry of the Chinese into Hong Kong in large numbers was unforeseen and naturally little provision was made for it. A narrow strip of comparatively level ground along the foreshore was at first the only available land for building and Queen's Road approxi- mately follows the line of the original settlement. Expansion could