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in the case of the teaching of hygiene, where the presumed necessity of providing a costly and elaborate apparatus has been a deterrent from the supply of any. But after all, every- day things are those best suited to illustrate the arguments of hygiene in their bearing on everyday life. With this idea, Mr. WILLIAMS of the Victoria School has published a number of "Experiments in Hygiene" to accompany Dr. PEARSE's Manual; and the work has proved of use.
The study of hygiene has been included in the "Model Course of Instruction for Vernacular Schools", given in Appendix C of my Annual Report for 1905; and as this Course is adopted by all the Vernacular Schools that are worth anything, it may said that the subject will soon be taught in Standards IV and above in all Government and Grant Vernacular Schools. Unfortunately, two attempts to render the Manual into Chinese have not satisfied the critical spirit of the Registrar General's Office: a third translation, very kindly made by the Hon. Dr. Ho KAI, C.M.G., has now been completed; the book is in the press, and will be in the hands of the masters of the Vernacular Schools immediately after China New Year.
STUDY OF THE SUBJECT IN SCHOOLS.
The subject continues to be taught in all the English and Anglo-Chinese Government and Grant Schools of the Colony, with a few unimportant exceptions. The total numbers under instruction are given in Table II. They shew a reduction as compared with last year, 1,439 to 1,524. This reduction, which has not in fact any great importance, is due partly to the closing of the Cathedral School and partly to a change in the method of class- ification. In some schools, where the pupils in Standard III are very young, it is hard to say whether they are or are not under instruction in hygiene. They are present at the lectures or at some of them; but they are quite incapable of deriving advantage from a great part of the lessons in the subject. The increase of pupils under instruction in Standards VI and VII, from 307 to 334, is on the contrary significant of a real progress.
EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS.
Progress way again tested by a competitive examination for prizes and a challenge shield, kindly of red by His Excellency the Governor. It was held on December 3rd, in the way descrit d in my Report for last year, except that the competitors for the shield, that is the Teams from the junior Standards, were examined at Queen's College (if boys), or at the Belilios School (if girls), and not at their own schools. The examiners were as before the Principal Civil Medical Officer and the Medical Officer of Health.
The number of competitors in the Advanced Examination was 64, composed of 36 boys from 5 schools, and 28 girls from 5 schools. Last year, there were 79 competitors from 12 schools. The results were as follows:-
Place.
Name.
First,
........Lau Iu-Chung,..
equal,
..Carlos Sequeira,
Third,
Wan Shuk-ching,. equal, ........Chan Chiu-Yau,
School.
Prize.
$60
.$20
Ellis Kadoorie School.........$60 St. Joseph's College,
...Belilios School,
..Diocesan School, Boys, ......$20
The French Convent did not send in any candidates for the Advanced Course this year; and Saiyingpun School could not, as it no longer takes its pupils above the equiva- lent of Standard V. The Cathedral School is also absent from the list, it having been closed. St. Mary's competed for the first time.
In view of the steady preparation throughout the year and the great efforts made by many of the schools, the examination papers, given in Appendix A., must be considered to be too easy completely to test the ability of the competitors. In Table III. is given an analysis of the marks obtained by the first 3 competitors from each school. Eight out of 10 schools get 80% or over, and one more nearly as many. The first 4 schools are separated by less than a mark. Only one question received less than half marks in any of the schools. Questions III and VII were well answered by every school: the answers to Questions I and V, dealing with the amount of carbonic acid gas in the air, and requiring a certain neatness in drawing respectively, were the worst done. Similar questions proved stumbling-blocks last year.