Bonham Road, the college entered another difficult period. The premises were rented from the government who now wanted to auction them off. The School Committee requested to be allowed to buy the property but there aroused a dispute with the Rhenish Mission even though the rental had originally been undertaken with a view to protecting the property and preserving it for the German mission. The committee contemplated closing the school, but eventually, the dispute was resolved and the college continued its operation under the headship of Richard Shum. Expansion period (1929–1963) In 1927, the college decided to build its own campus. Shum succeeded in raising over six thousand dollars from the staff and students. Together with fourteen thousand dollars from the Provident Fund and a government subvention of twenty thousand dollars, the School Committee decided to construct the new school building on the site of Mongkok Church at Bute Street in Mongkok, with the understanding that the college was to share its new hall with Mongkok Church. The government withdrew its financial aid when construction work was underway and the college was completed in September 1928 with the aid of some loans. In 1930, Shum resigned and the London Missionary Society agreed to urgent appeals from the School Committee that Rev. Frank Short should be allowed to serve the college as Headmaster. Rev. Short administered and developed the college so well that it was restored to the Grant List. The extra funds thus gained made improvement in facilities possible. Rev. Frank Short continued in office until 1938 when he had to devote more time to the administrative work for the London Missionary Society. Herbert Noble, who taught in the college since 1933, succeeded Short. In December 1941, Hong Kong fell into the control of the Imperial Japan. The school building itself, commandeered by the Japanese authorities, was used as a P.W.D. depot. Mr Noble, being a member of the naval volunteers, was taken a prisoner of war. At the closure of the war, the school building was restored to the School Committee and the college was re-opened in November 1945. Noble convalesced in London and was temporarily substituted by the senior master Yung Kai-yin. When Noble resumed duty in 1946, the enrolment had increased to such an extent that around 600 students crammed into the building originally designed for 350. The college premises in Bute Street, Mongkok proved to be