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Society to obtain the services of a trained teacher from home. I have been given an opportunity of seeing the school at work, and the brightness of the children, their cleanliness, and their absorption in their work and games left a very favourable impression. The school is a great boon to the poor women of the neighbourhood who have to be out at work all day; but if the Government ever undertakes the task of infant education, it will be necessary to insist on the schools being taught by properly trained teachers, or they will become inerely nurseries without any educational effect. From a social and political point of view, the opening of infant schools under constant European super- vision is much to be desired, as the sooner Chinese children come in close contact with Europeans, the more perfect will be the harmony between the Government and the Chinese population.
12. NUMBER OF UNEDUCATED CHILDREN IN THE COLONY.-Latterly, on the ground that most children have to learn two languages, the local school-going age has been regarded as 6 to 16 years. But it is only the children of well-to-do parents who can be reasonably expected to spend 10 years at school. It would be more than satisfactory to find all children between the ages of 7 and 14 under education, and it will be a very long time before the mass of the Chinese community can be brought to regard even 7 years' schooling as necessary for their children. I prefer to fix the school-going age at from 7 to 14 years, as this department is principally concerned with primary education. Previous calculations of the number of uneducated children have assumed that all the children at school were
between the ages of 6 and 16, but I find that 30 per cent. of the boys are over 16 years of age in the Grant-in-Aid Schools in which English is taught, whilst the Headmaster of Queen's College in- forms me that 59 per cent. of his scholars are over that age. I am not in possession of all the neces sary figures, but I believe that I am very nearly correct in assuming that out of the 10,833 persons reported as attending school only 7,830 are between the ages of 7 and 14 years. Of these 5,063 are boys and 2,767 are girls. According to the Census of 1897, of the civil land population there were 8,181 boys and 8,809 girls between the ages of 7 and 14. It appears then that 3,118 boys and 5,042 girls were not attending school. There are, I understand, about 300 Chinese boys attending private schools so the number of boys not attending school is reduced to 2,818. It has been correctly pointed out in previous reports that "the mass of Chinese children remain in school but 3 or 4 years." At the last examination 99 per cent. of the boys and 93 per cent, of the girls were presented for exa- mination in the first three standards. It is therefore probable that there are very few Chinese boys who have not received some education. In the above calculation the floating population has been left out of account. The number of boys of school-going age in this portion of the community is 2,422, and of girls 2,025. Very few of these attend school. There are insuperable difficulties in the way of regular attendance. Those of them who are not living on junks and fishing boats, which may be absent from the Colony for days at a time, are living on boats which ply for hire and are liable to be called away to distant parts of the harbour and to be detained there for hours. It is only at Shaukiwan that any large proportion of the population lives in boats which are used only as house-boats. In the har- bour itself there are only 142 children on boats which presumably never move far from one place.
13. RESULTS OF THE ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS.-The results of the annual examinations of the Grant-in-Aid Schools will be found in Tables X, XI and XII. The standard required in schools in Class III was somewhat higher than the one to which these schools had been accustomed. Some difference was, of course, unavoidable, although I did my best to adhere as closely as possible to the standard fixed by my predecessor. There was no difficulty as to the standard for schools in Class I. In these it has been found possible and necessary to fix a rigid standard from which no deviation can be made, and to return composition and dictation papers after correction to the teachers.
14. BELILIOS PUBLIC SCHOOL.-The examination of this school was held in July, and I reported at the time the results obtained. The Chinese division of the school is now very popular, and the time will soon come when an attempt must be made to widen somewhat the education given. The examination of this division was confined to one in the subjects of a purely Chinese classical education with the addition of some very elementary geography and Chinese embroidery.
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15. DEPARTMENTAL DISTRICT SCHOOLS. In tables II, IV, V and VII will be found some particulars regarding these Schools. I do not consider the work done by them as effective as that done by Grant-in-Aid Schools. For isolated hamlets like Shekó, Wongmakok and Taitamtuk, it is impos- sible to secure good teachers, and at Yaumati, Stanley and Wongnaichung, the master is set the impossible task of teaching Chinese and English classes simultaneously in one room.
16. GRANT-IN-AID SCHOOLS.-The average monthly enrolment in these has increased from 3,651 in 1896 to 4,224. The number of schools is 100 as compared with 104 in 1896. The four schools which have ceased to exist are a girls' school in Fletcher Street, ruined by the plague, the British Kowloon College, the boys' division of the Holy Infancy School, which has been converted into a mixed school, and a school at Mongkok. Of the hundred schools still in existence, four were temporarily closed on account of difficulties in procuring efficient teachers.
17. BRITISH KOWLOON SCHOOL.-This school has been closed. The negotiations entered into by the School Committee with the Government were, I regret to say, inconclusive.