THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1876.
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often manifests itself. All the trouble taken to get a good master is often labour in vain; and the more ignorant the people are, the more unwavering is their faith in their own competence to decide on the new man's fitness or unfitness. In the present case, the master's health failed towards the end of the year, and he had to resign. His successor, although considerably his inferior, is yet doing what he failed to do. He is attracting scholars to the school, and there will soon be as many as could be expected in this once populous but now very sparsely inhabited locality.
6. Twelve years ago, the two schools at this place were very flourishing, but event after event occurred to withdraw the people elsewhere. Two large fires dealt the first blow. Then, the boat people were relegated to Causeway Bay; and now the houses in the Bazaar are nearly all untenanted. The school children come principally from the various clusters of houses which lie scattered between Wán-tsai Gap and the Temple at Tang-lung Chau. The boat people have never forgiven their being sent from their former rendezvous, and they show their resentment by depriving us of the opportunity of educating their children. Incredible as it sounds, many of the people think they are conferring a favour on the Government by allowing their children to attend the schools.
7. In the case of Tái Wong Kung, the master who was dismissed contrived to elicit a good deal of sympathy from the parents of the scholars,-another reinarkable feature, for the man was guilty of the grossest misconduct, and nobody dreamt of saying otherwise. Still, he was a good master, they said, and they wanted him continued. This could not be thought of, and the result is that they too are displaying a little resentment; but, in this case, it is likely to be short lived, as the superiority of the present master is beyond all cavil.
8. The appointment to the school in Battery Road was successful in every way, and was so from the first, although it was feared that there would be a falling off at the start, so difficult is it to calcu- late beforehand what will be the effect of a change of master.
9. The fourth vacancy occurred at Wán-tsai. The master, who lived in a perpetual dread of robbers, could never be prevailed upon to open the windows of his own quarters, and, as soon as school was dismissed, the whole premises were religiously shut up and barricaded. The consequence was that his health gave way, and the school suffered much in consequence.
He retired in April.
His place has been taken by a master who is rapidly recovering the ground which was lost, and who will soon make the Wán-tsai school what he previously made the one at Stanley, the best of the class to which it belongs. The taste, too, which he is displaying in cultivating the ground within the school enclosure is worthy of all commendation. From being a place which one was almost ashamed of, it has become the pride and the talk of the neighbourhood.
10. The school at Aberdeen, in addition to its other difficulties, the iteration of which is unneces- sary, had this time to contend with sickness. The master had repeated attacks of fever, and it took much persuasion to induce him to return, after his last and very serious illness. The village, in spite of all that has been done to it, is little better than a swamp. The exhalations which arise from the heated mud, in breezeless summers like the last, can only produce one result. Sickness interfered much also with the school at Sháu-kí Wán. The building had an unenviable notoriety while it was occupied by the Police, but, until last year, there had been no cause for complaint since it became a schoolhouse. It stands on the highest ground in the village, and is admirably ventilated; but in front there is a long stretch of muddy beach at low water, from which miasma cannot fail to exude under a broiling sun. A denser vegetation both here and at Aberdeen would go far to counteract these evil influences.
1. In addition to geography introduced into all the schools in 1873, the first three books of the School Book Committee's series came into use last year, with highly satisfactory results.
The new subjects were, as a rule, well taught, without any injury to the ordinary Chinese lessons. Arithmetic, which was referred to last year, was not adopted for two reasons; first, because time could not be found for the compilation of a suitable Chinese text book, and, secondly, because even if it had been ready, there was sufficient innovation for one year without it. It will not be lost sight of, and, when opportunity offers, it also will find its appropriate place in the schools.
12. The other Native Schools, thirteen in number and principally on the Kowloon side, which receive a monthly contribution towards the masters' salaries, remain very much as they were. The number of scholars was greater than in 1874, and the attendance was very much more regular. The new books just spoken of are gradually making way among them too; and five or six years hence perhaps, with patience and perseverance, these schools may do for the outlying places in which they are situated what the Government Schools, ordinarily so called, are doing in more favoured localities.
13. In spite of defective accommodation and other drawbacks, the Central School is steadily progressing. The total number under tuition was 556, and the average daily attendance for the year was 379. The corresponding numbers for 1874 were 528 and 347 respectively. Taking month by month, the average number on the books was 411, as against 369 for the previous year.
14. Nothing occurred during the year which requires any special mention. The school, as regards both masters and scholars, was wonderfully exempt from sickness and other causes of absence. There was consequently the less to interfere with the even tenor of daily duty. Scarcely any year has been so favourable to the school in this respect as 1875.