!
94
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 6TH MARCH, 1869.
-a plan which I hope to see demand special notice. These differ from the others in being aided only, and not supported,- extended to all the schools as rapidly as it is practicable to do so, At present, each of the three masters is allowed five dollars a month, and the villagers make up the amount of his salary principally in kind, which seems to be the ordinary way of paying school-masters in China.
22. The proposal of a grant in aid came from the villagers themselves, and was at once acceded to. It is an admirable method of overcoming a difficulty which seems to have existed to a greater extent ten years ago than it does now. The Chinese like to have a school-master of their own choice. So much is this the case that the villagers of Tò-kwá wán for three successive years declined to have a Government School in the village although they had petitioned for one, unless the appoint- ment of the school-master was left entirely in their own hands. Their request was of course refused. It was too much to ask the entire support of the school from Government and to refuse it any control over the master.
At first, they granted 23.-The late Board of Education decided on refusing all such applications, and very properly so. them, being glad to do anything which would be the means of getting children to go to school, but they ultimately discovered that such proposals really originated with some school-master in want of employment, and not with the people themselves. Some adventurer, possibly a fortune-teller, visited the village, got the heads of it together, expatiated on the advantages of having a school and on his own special qualifications for the post of school-master, and concluded by saying that it would not only not cost them anything if they would petition Government in his favour, but he would undertake to allow them so much a month out of his salary. Matters went on smoothly for a few months till the school-master, thinking himself in possession, forgot his promise. Gradually the children were withdrawn, and the following year the Board was petitioned for his dismissal on the ground of general incompetence if not of something more serious, and another who had made liberal promises was recommended in his place.
24.-It was for such reasons as these that the Government was recommended to refuse the petition from Tò-kwá wán. The village does not enjoy an enviable reputation, and it was more than suspected that the people were afraid of the doings of the place coming to light, if a Government nominee was appointed to the school.
25.-Matters stand on a different footing when aid and not support is asked for. There can be little doubt then that a desire to have the children educated is paramount to all other considerations. The master, too, feeling his dependence on the villagers for half his income, has an inducement to diligence which one could wish to see introduced into some of the other schools, that at Shau-ki wán for example, where the whole state of things is very unsatisfactory. It is really a question whether that school should not be shut up once more. The people have already forgotten all their promises to send their children regularly to school. Their zeal may be measured by the fact that in 1866 when offered the use of the school-room, And yet there which is Government property, at a rental of one dollar per quarter they refused to accept it on such terms. must be nearly two hundred children in the village who ought to be at school.
26.The school-house at Little Hongkong belongs to the Government, and was put in thorough repair in the early part of the year. In this respect, the villagers have a great advantage over those at Mong-kok and Ma-t'au where the school-houses belong to the people. Miserable hovels they are. That at Mong-kok is about fifteen feet long, by seven and a half wide. The height is about ten feet. To make all the floor-space available for school purposes, the master's bed is suspended from the ceiling after the manner of a hammock. There is no window. I therefore conclude that there can be no school when it rains. The school-room at Ma-t'au is considerably larger, but as the number of scholars is twice that at Mong-kok, matters are not mended in consequence.
27. In spite of all this, the schools are well attended, and every body seems satisfied. The villagers express themselves This is in great contrast to the state of things on the under great obligations to the Government, and ask for nothing more. Island itself, where, with one exception, the school-houses are substantial and commodious, and yet remain anything but over- crowded. I have, as usual, drawn attention, in Table VI, to the number of uneducated children in the Colony, which I estimate this year at 10,697. This is a fact worthy of all notice, but it must be taken as a measure of the people's indifference to education, and not of the niggardliness of the Government. Nothing short of absolute compulsion will bring this neglected multitude under happier influences, and after much anxious thought on the matter, I am unable to suggest anything but compulsion as a remedy for the existing evil. Such a procedure, however, is not to be adopted without serious consideration, especially among such a migratory population as we have in this Colony. Were those ten thousand six hundred and ninety- seven children to remain here permanently, a bold measure might, and perhaps should, be attempted. It may be otherwise when a great proportion of them may not be in Hongkong two or three years hence.
28.-Without reporting specially on each of the schools, which is as unnecessary as it would be tedious, it will be suffi- cient to arrange them in the order of their efficiency.
1st, Stanley.
2nd, Tang-lung chau, (Punti).
3rd, Webster's Crescent.
4th, Bowrington.
5th, West Point, (Punti).
6th, Tang-lung chau, (Hakka).
7th, Girls' School.
8th, West Point, (Hakka).
9th, West End. 10th, Wong-nai ch'ung. 11th, Little Hongkong. 12th, Ma-t'an ts'ün. 13th, Aberdeen. 14th, Mong-kok ts'ün. 15th, Shan-ki wán.
29.-It is much to be regretted that no suitable accommodation can be found in the neighbourhood for the school at Bowrington. It is at present accommodated in the upper stories of two contiguous Chinese houses, but when it is considered that the average attendance is fifty-six, there is no necessity for any details as to the unsuitability of its location. May I suggest the appropriation of a piece of land just below the Seamen's Hospital, and on the opposite side of Queen's Road, as the most convenient place for the site of a new school-house, which is most urgently required?
30.-Thirty two of the scholars at this school are girls. The school-master's wife has them specially under her own care. They are taught needle-work, in addition to reading and writing. It will be seen from the annexed Tables that the indifference of the Chinese to female education is beginning to give way, there being now no fewer than six of the schools in which girls are enrolled as scholars.
31.-I think it necessary to repeat in this Report what has been stated in all previous ones that the girls in the Govern- ment Schools are not taught English. They are simply receiving a Chinese education in a Chinese school, the object being not to give them a distaste for their own humble sphere of life, but to make them as useful as possible in it. On no point is it necessary to lay greater stress than on this, that no room may be left for misapprehension.
32.-But for the manner in which these schools have been lately spoken of, this Report might have now been concluded. As it is, explanation is required; and it will save much circumlocution, as well as enable me to be more explicit, if I say at once that I refer to the Charge of the Lord Bishop (pp. 50-54), delivered in the Cathedral, on the 2nd February last, and since published. In noticing the points there discussed, it may appear to some that I lay myself open to the charge of claim- If such will consider ing the exclusive right of commenting strongly on the schools, and of allowing no one else to do so.
that an unreserved statement of the actual facts of the case is imperatively called for to enable the Government to know in what state the education of the Colony really is, it will occur to them that a great deal which is bad may be found in connexion with not a little that is good, and that if the schools, when tried by a European standard, prove to be almost failures, they may not on that account be the less worthy either of notice or of support.