57
No. 4
HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE HEAD MASTER OF THE VICTORIA COLLEGE FOR 1893.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, on the 7th March, 1894.
No. 17.
VICTORIA COLLEGE, HONGKONG, 24th January, 1894.
SIR, I have the honour to forward the annual report on Victoria College for the year 1893. 1. The total number on the College Roll for the year was 1,012. The fact that Chinese New Year fell so late accounts for the small minimum monthly enrolment, as it is difficult to induce parents to keep their sons at school after their examination is over; so that the January attendance, which is the usual minimum, was further reduced in February. If it had not been for a noticeable falling-off in the latter half of the year, there would have been a much higher average daily attendance, and a considerable increase in fees.
2. The following tables will illustrate the condition of the College during the last ten years:-
Average
YEAR.
Total Number of
Number of
Monthly Enrolment.
Scholars.
School days.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Daily Attendance.
1884,
558
236
462
362
411
1885,
596
238
499
382
437
1886,
610
238
507
419
446
1887,
601
234
525
417
449
1888,
634
229
536
384
467
1889, ...........................
919
283
789
466
597
1890,
1,075
236
890
683
758
1891,
1,108
231
932
712
759
1892, 1893,
1,062
237
862
700
728
1,012
238
840
639
683
Average
1884,
1886,
1887,..
1888,
1889,
1890,
1891,
1892,
1893,
Number
YEAR.
of School Boys Examined.
Percentage of Passes.
Actual Net
School Fees.
Expenditure.
Expense of each Scholar per Average Daily Attendance.
379
95.58
4,981,00
13,378.62
32.48
412
95.38
5,273.00
12,885.00
29.45
405
94.81
5,422.00
11,680.41
26.17
384
97.65
5,547.00
11,872.70
26.40
445
94.15
6,899.00
12,384.14
26.48
676
95.41
9,338.00
15,018.30
25.11
692
89.45
11,912.00
19,222.46
25.34
709
90.26
12,237.00
18,158.60
23.92
671
96.12
12,342.00
19,741.43
27.09
625
93.28
12,348.00
21,405.46
31.33
3. REMARKS ON PRECEDING TABLES.-We observe that the number of school-days is pretty uniformly maintained; that the number of school-boys examined is, roughly speaking, two-thirds of the total number on the Roll for the year; and that a high percentage of passes is annually sustained. The average daily attendances were proportionately better in the smaller school (73 per cent.), as might reasonably be expected; it would require an improvement of 5 per cent. in the attendance (68 per cent.) of the boys now on the Roll to equal the former average. The steady increase in fees year by year is very apparent, and the increase is out of all proportion to the corresponding increase in the number of boys on the Roll, for while the latter is barely doubled, the amount of fees is far on the way towards being trebled. In estimating the average expense of each scholar, though the present figure appears high, and only finds a parallel nine years ago, in 1885, we must not fail to remember that if Victoria College had not been built, the recent general increase of salary throughout the Service would have affected the Central School by an annual amount of $5,158, so that in 1888, the last