THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 3RD MARCH, 1883.
153
10. As the new Tytam Water Works will not be completed for some time, and even when finished the supply of water will not be unlimited, waste prevention should be attended to and the present system of distribution should be improved, water waste checked, and the unjust incidence of the present water tax remedied.
11. To this end a new Water-works Act should be introduced at once, giving powers to punish waste of Water, and regulating the rate of taxation in a more equitable manner. Ι propose to request Mr CHADWICK to furnish me with a memorandum which will be of use to you in considering this subject.
12. The minor improvements to the distributing mains should also be taken in hand at once, as proposed in Part 2 of Mr. CHADWICK's Report, Section 5. To make the new supply suffice for the wants of the city, all this will in any case require to be done. By doing it at once the present supply may be rendered far more efficient at a moderate cost.
13. I cannot conclude this Despatch without expressing my satisfaction, in which I feel sure you will concur, at the care and ability with which Mr. CHADWICK has accomplished the Mission entrusted to him, and at the clearness and completeness of the reports which he has furnished.
The Officer Administering the Government of
HONGKONG.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) KIMBERLEY,
HONGKONG,
No. 5.
The Secretary of State to His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government,
DOWNING STREET,
30th December, 1882.
SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 192 of the 12th of September, reporting on the Normal School, and of your Despatch 221 of the 10th of October submit- ting the Report of the Commission appointed in 1880 to consider whether it would be expedient to raise the Central School into a Collegiate Institution.
With regard to the Normal School, I agree in Dr. STEWART's recommendation that it should be continued provisionally until the New Central School has been built and the Establishment re-organized, when the latter institution should take up the work of training pupil teachers, and the present Normal School be closed. No new pupils should be admitted and those in training should be given a strictly moderate subsistence allowance, and be called upon to sign bonds similar to the one enclosed in your despatch, if they have not already done so.
I think it also very important to adopt Dr. STEWART'S suggestion that if the present pupils live together on the school premises, a proper supervision of them should be exercised after school hours.
With regard to the Central School, I agree in the Report of the Committee that neither a Collegiate Institution nor a Normal School are at present required, and I generally concur in the other recommendations submitted.
A new Central School should be begun without avoidable delay on the site selected by Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, and I gather from your Despatch that the plans had not been finally approved by you; when
you
have discussed them with Mr. PRICE you will forward them for my acceptance and I will now only observe that convenience should certainly be considered before architectural effects.
I gather from the evidence that the hours of school, which were apparently eight in summer and seven-and-a-half in winter, have been shortened; this change is clearly beneficial and has my approval.
also approve the recommendation of the Commission in paragraph 5, so far as relates to building five new schools, but I do not clearly understand whether they recommend a more expensive class of school than was approved by Sir M. HICKS-BEACH, and I wish for information on this point.
Until the new Central School is built, it is premature to sanction any definite arrangement, but the 7th paragraph of the Report appears to suggest satisfactory means for insuring a more efficient study of the English language.
The Officer Administering the Government of
HONGKONG.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
DERBY.