459
9. The difficulty of the time employed in the careful examination, by compe- tent Native scholars, of this enormous number of annual applicants for admission, is, it is true, somewhat obviated by the recommendation of the appointment of Composition Masters (§75), better perhaps called Native Stylis's.
10. It is however in my opinion a serious question whether the Government is justified in increasing from 200 to 400 the number of rejected applicants, of whom several have already spent 1 to 5 years in the study of English. These boys are really anxious to enjoy the benefits of English education in this College, as their grief at refusal of renewed applications testifies.
11. There is further the sordid consideration of annual loss to the Revenue of about $5,000 from fees of vacant seats, which may be estimated at over $400 per mensem—200 seats @ $2.
12. Again my experience has taught me that it is an overcrowded institution that is attractive to the Chinese. If a College is half or three-quarters fall, disci- pline suffers from the independence of parents, who think the presence of their sons a personal favour.
13. My recommendation is, to admit applicants to all vacancies, as heretofore, but provide proper Native Chinese instruction, in addition to English school for all boys in the Lower and Preparatory Schools as formerly up to 1895. I believe His Excellency Sir HENRY BLAKE advocates the restoration of the Native School in connexion with this College. No expense, in addition to the recommendations of the Committee, will be entailed, as I propose, on the suggestion of the Second Master, to employ the six (instead of nine) Native Stylists 34 hours daily in Native School as well as 14 hours daily in English School. The few boys, not half a dozen, admitted to the Upper School, do not require consideration.
14. I found on my arrival in 1882, no Entrance Examination, Chinese or Eng- lish. Dr. STEWART'S practice, as assured me by the then Second Master (Mr. A. FALCONER) was to admit, first, all boys with letters from leading European and Chinese residents; second, all who knew some English; third, the most intelligent looking of the remainder. After admissiou these boys were examined in Chinese by Messrs. Ir UT LAU, HO TSUK SHAN and CHAN T'sz FAI to qualify for Chinese classes, not for admission to the Central School. The quotation (§2) of the cus- tom, 1864, when the Central School had not existed three years is of little value, as showing Dr. STEWART'S practice 16 years later.
15. A previous attempt, made in 1896 under orders of the Governing Body, to hold a preliminary examination in elementary Chinese knowledge, failed com- pletely, and the practice was at once abandoned by permission of that Body, as tending to empty the College.
B.-CHINESE Studies.
16. Ignorance of the Chinese language by Chinese boys (§5) in Queen's College, which, I frankly admit, is due to the abolition by the Governing Body in 1895 (against my repeated protests) of the Native Chinese School in this College after 33 years' experience of the necessity of its maintenance. It must be remein- bered that the Marquis of RIPON in C. O). D. 14 of 1893, §5, considered the proposed change in the system of Chinese teaching at Queen's College un- advisable; and quite recently His Excellency Sir HENRY BLAKE has expressed himself in favour of a reversion to the former practice.
17. I do not fear contradiction of the statement that no really good Chinese composition can be written by a Native whose mind is not saturated with the Native Classics. Missionaries train Native preachers in Chinese taught after European ideas, but I should be surprised to learn that even one of these has ever graduated in the lowest degree of Sau Tsoi.
f.
18. I find some difficulty in reconciling the opinion of the Committee (§19) that too much has been made of the time which must be spent on the study of the Chinese written language," with their statement (§37B) that Messrs. No and TSANG who have constantly for fifteen years been painstakingly engaged in teaching translation from and into Chinese are "incompetent."