THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH MARCH, 1866.
141
not learnedly, with the masters about the books their children are to learn, and others, having by some accident fallen upon ok, insist on their children reading it, not because they really believe it to be good, but because it saves the trouble and ense of buying another.
:
From what has been stated it would appear, that no great or immediate reformation in Education can be hoped for in Ifngkong. The only course left is to take advantage of opportunities as they occur, and bring about gradually those results
ch, however desirable, cannot at present be attained.
+
Before any real good can be effected the Chinese must have learnt to appreciate the value of education, and of their own tucation, such as it is. Nothing seems to find favour with them which does not bear a market value. Hence, the comparative ress of the Central School, English being convertible into dollars; hence, also, the neglect of the Vernacular Schools, Chinese being unsaleable.
In several instances I have had appeals printed which have been left in every house, and posted in conspicuous places, ing on the people the necessity of sending their children to School, and showing them the advantages which Government tuitonsly puts in their way. Unfortunately, all this is too readily admitted. Promises are profusely given, but the matter is here, and the Schools are as badly attended as before.
I grant that the Schoolmasters have their share of the blame. Their fixed salaries and their low ideas of duty make less zealous than they ought to be. But, this objection has not the same weight that it had formerly. The masters in to understand that it is necessary to pay some attention to their duties, as means now exist of knowing whether they
so or not.
One great means of bringing about the desired change would be for the Inspector to spend the greater portion of his time a teaching the masters-showing them, and not merely telling them, how to conduct their classes, for to classes the Chinese Eave an inveterate objection. But such a course, in my present position, is simply impossible.
To say that there has been no progress during these four years would be to be guilty of exaggeration, but, after viewing e various signs of improvement in their most favourable light I cannot help thinking that Government is receiving a very adequate return for the outlay it incurs. I have been at some pains to obtain correct statistics of all the children in the Colony who attend School and they do not exceed eighteen hundred and seventy. Comparing this insignificant number with the Registrar General's Returns, in which the boys are computed at 12,764 and the girls at 9,537- a total of 22,301, it is possible to over-estimate the detrimental consequences which must inevitably result to the well-being of the Colony with so my growing up uneducated and neglected. If we deduct 8,301 as a fair estimate of those who are too young to learn we shall have 14,000 left of whom 1,870 attend School. Engrossed in the pursuit of gain, the Chinese who have flocked to Hongkong have left behind them their traditional regard for education, and allowed themselves to settle into an apathy characteristic only of barbarism. A community which can subscribe twenty thousand dollars, as was the case last year, for theatres and processions can well afford to contribute a handsome sum to rescue from ignorance and degradation the thousands of children who are growing up in their midst.
Whether the Chinese are to continue to enjoy the exclusive privilege of a free education or to share it with the European and the Half-Caste is a question which cannot long be deferred; and when one thinks of the number of children in our streets and on the Praya, who are growing up in ignorance and bidding fair to surpass their predecessors in the practice of violence and theft, the suggestion of a member of the late Board of Education that the Colony should possess a Government Reformatory on an extensive scale inust, sooner or later, claim to itself that consideration which it seems to demand. My can impression is that nothing short of an Education Tax and Compulsory Attendance at School will meet the existing evil. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART, Head Master and Inspector.
The Honourable W. H. ALEXANDER, Esq.,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
Cng ge, $e.
1. Aberdeen
2. Bowrington
3. Central School
NUMBERS and ATTENDANCE in the Government Schools during 1865.
Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum Enrolment. Enrolment. Attendance. Attendance.
4. Girl's School.
5. Mah: Mosque
6. Stanley.
7. Tang-lung-chau (Hakka)
& Tang-lung-chau (Punti)
9. Webster's Crescent
10, West End..........
11. West Point..
1. Wong-nai-chung..
33
97
207
179
40
27
36
20
56
35
35
55
26.
597
418
A`RZA8=8A8898
16
RAg8n8=93882 | 2
26
8
19
6
170
18
777
25
26
7
21
24
9
535
330