THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 26 гн JANUARY, 1878.
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sustained during the past year. The third master, Mr. GAIR, obtained leave of absence on account of the delicate state of his health, and, I regret to say, he died in Japan. Mr. GAIR was for a long time in the public service of the Colony. He was an Inspector of Police previous to his connection with the Central School. Before joining our Police force he was a school-inaster in Scotland, and when he was promoted to the important post of third master in this school, I believe I am justified in saying, in the presence of Mr. STEWART and those who knew him well, that he was an able assistant to the head master, that he gave the utmost satisfaction to Mr. STEWART and the pupils who came in contact with him. Whilst, therefore, I am bound to express publicly my great regret at his loss, I have at all events the satisfaction of recording the fact that the Government have been able to obtain the assistance of a competent gentleman to take his place, and I may say in passing, that on a recent visit to this school I was much pleased to see how admirably Mr. FALCONER, the second master in the school, Mr. BALL, and Mr. PIERCY assisted Mr. STEWART. When school, you will appreciate the responsibility of Mr. STEWART and the other gentlemen who are entrusted you think of the large number of pupils in this with the management of this institution. What I saw in the school and what I have read of the previous reports of Mr. STEWART and of the progress of the school, all convince me that a change is necessary in the management of this institution in the direction of giving more leisure to Mr. STEWART to attend to the higher duties of inspector of schools. (Applause). I think we are exacting from Mr. STEWART more than any one man, no matter how accomplished and able he may be, can perform in asking him to be not only the inspector of all our schools, but also to retain the post of head master in this school. I believe that if Mr. STEWART were to take the position of inspector of schools, maintaining of course in that position a proper supervision over this school, he would be able to give to the whole educational scheme of the Colony a closer attention than he is at present able to bestow upon it. It does not do for us if we happen to have a very good officer to overwork him; with the growth, the steady but yet rapid growth, of this school, the work of Mr. STEWART must have grown in proportion, and the time has come when, I think, I may fairly consider whether or not some change should be made of the nature I have indicated. think it necessary to recommend, it will be my duty to report to Her Majesty's Government, but, Of course, as you are aware, whatever change I may knowing what the services of Mr. STEWART have been to the school, I believe the Secretary of State would favourably entertain any recommendation in that direction by the Governor of the Colony.
Perhaps I may take this opportunity of saying a word or two to the students who are present on a subject which at one time attracted a good deal of my attention and which, close as we are to China, is not an inappropriate subject in addressing an audience such as this. You are all aware that the Government of the Great Empire close to us relies for obtaining its official element upon a system of open competitive examination, established now for many centuries in China, and you are also aware that some of the countries in Europe-I will not say following the example of China, but certainly treading in the footsteps of China-have established also a system of open competitive examination for appointments in the civil service. Now one of my predecessors, many, many years ago, in writing to the Secretary of State, expressed his opinion that the Government of China was able to conduct the administration of China-of that vast empire stretching down from Peking to Canton--was able to conduct that government from Peking mainly by reason of this system of open competitive examin- ations, and by relying on certain great moral principles, such as parental authority, which that govern- ment at all times enforces. Not long since, when paying a flying visit to Canton, I was shown by Archdeacon GRAY the examination halls in that city. As well as I remember, he told me that at the last examination there were three thousand candidates, and there were very few more than one hundred of these three thousand that were to obtain the degrees; that is, there were few more than one hundred degrees to be given. The result was that during the two or three days the examination lasted the intellectual struggle between these three or four thousand students was very great. The names of the hundred who passed were recorded, and from time to time, as vacancies occurred in the public service of China, they obtained appointments, and in that way some of the most powerful mandarins in China have obtained the public offices they hold. Now the question occurred to me when I arrived in this Colony, would it be possible for me to do anything in that direction here? And perhaps you will excuse me if I refer to the personal reminiscence that some years ago, in the House of Commons, I made a motion for a committee to ascertain whether it was possible to throw open to public competition the whole of the appointments of the civil service in England. We had a debate upon that subject. Lord PALMERSTON, no doubt a very wise statesman, though perhaps on that occasion in the wrong, opposed my motion. The House of Commons, however, supported me; I had the satisfaction so far of defeating the Ministry. My committee was appointed and that committee recommended that the civil service of England should be thrown open to free public competition. It came to pass a few years later, in 1870, that Mr. GLADSTONE, who was then the Prime Minister of England, by an Order in Council carried into effect the recommendation of that committee, and I had the great satisfaction of receiving from him a letter in which he acquainted me with what he had done, and he was pleased to say that he had all along sympathised with my
efforts to throw open the civil service of the United Kingdom to public com- petition. And at this moment, if a clerkship is vacant in the Colonial Office, in the Board of Admiralty, in any of the great departments of the State (with one exception), any young man in England, Ireland, or Sectland, without any favour or patronage, can e result? I am told by the heads of the departments
te for the appointment. And what is the Secretary of the Treasury has