* No. 10.-Cathedral School.
536
Staff-Two European and 4 Chinese Masters.
Discipline and Organization.-The school under new management shewed a very marked improvement during the latter half of the school year. I regret to report that the Manager has decided to close it, as the building is required for another purpose.
Sanitation.-Very satisfactory.
Floor Space.-Sufficient for 446 pupils.
Apparatus.--Satisfactory.
English.-Colloquial.-Very much improved. The Chinese masters have been trained to teach the subject and have profited considerably. Reading.--Good. Writing.-Compo- sition is still weak in the Upper Standards. There is a great improvement in the Lower School.
Geography-Weak
-Weak in the higher Standards. Elsewhere good.
Hygiene.—Standard IV has improved since the Team examination. The Upper Stand- ards are little better than Standard IV.
Arithmetic.--Good,
Chinese.-Fair. Weakest in the lower Classes.
Grant. I recommend a Grant at the rate of 30/-.
* No. 11.--Ellis Kadoorie School.
Staff-Mr. W. BRAIDWOOD, one English and 11 Chinese Assistant Masters...
Discipline and Organization.-Discipline, very good. The weakness of the European Staff was accentuated towards the end of the school year, by the retirement of one of the Assistant English Masters whose place has not yet been filled, as well as by the greatly in- creased number of pupils. The increased numbers are partly due to the facilities offered for free education, there being at present about 100 boys in the school who pay no fees. In these circumstances, the junior Chinese Masters do not receive the supervision they so such need, as the Headmaster must find his time almost entirely occupied with the highest Classes, which give evidence of assiduous attention on his part.
It would be well if the Classes were uninformly designated by numbers, and the Divi- sions of classes by letters.
Sanitation.--The new buildings, towards the cost of which the Government is sub- scribing $7,000, are nearly finished. Meanwhile the school is overcrowded; while the noise and disturbance caused by the new construction are inevitable hindrances to the lessons.
Apparatus.-Very satisfactory.
English.-Colloquial.--The teaching in the lower Classes has improved, notably in Class: VI D. Much however remains to be done. Reading-In Class VI C there has been introduced the barbarous, old Hongkong system of teaching reading; the Class master con- fines himself to the pronunciation of the words, and subsequently a Chinese master "ex- plains" the meaning by giving a word for word Chinese translation. Writing.-Handwriting is good throughout. The composition in the two highest Classes is quite unusually good, and reaches the highest standard that can reasonably be expected of Chinese boys, namely that they should make no mistakes worse than awkward expressions and the use of foreigu sounding idiomis. It should be needless to add that they have not arrived at this point without also being able to speak English very well. The use of such abbreviations as "can't" and "don't" is to be deprecated in essay writing. Hygiene should not be dragged unnecessarily into alien subjects.