also held office as Inspector of Schools, the two offices being combined. He was succeeded in November, 1881, by Dr. Bateson Wright, under whose aegis the move to the present buildings and change of name took place. Dr. Wright retired in 1909.
The original Central School is not now standing, though the Belilios Public School (for girls) was erected on the actual site, in 1893, and presented to the Government by the philanthropist Mr. E.R. Belilios. The buildings have since been extended. This school commenced originally as a Girls' Central School, which was opened in 1890 in two small Chinese houses in Hollywood Road. The premises soon proved inadequate, however, and Mr. Belilios generously came forward with his gift of the new building, his name being thereafter commemorated in the designation of the school.
Here is an interesting side-light on the change that brought about Queen's College. It is a leading article which appeared in the Hongkong Telegraph of July 29, 1881:
"We consider it our duty to call the attention of the Government to the necessity for taking immediate steps to carry out some well-devised scheme for the erection of a new Central School. The present structure is said to be altogether unsuited to the requirements of the Colony; it has in fact been fairly tried, found wanting, and condemned. The great defects of the Central School are its inconvenient, unhealthy situation, defective drainage, circumscribed space considering the number of pupils, and its proximity to a noisy portion of the city, which must interfere to a very great extent with the scholastic work. A site for a new school was selected some considerable time ago, and because building operations have not commenced, H.E. the Governor has been rather severely censured by the local press; our morning contemporary even going the length of observing in a recent issue, that the action of the Government in allowing the space to remain unused was a scandalous and criminal waste of public money. Without going quite so far as this, we certainly think it is high time something were done with the valuable piece of ground between Caine Road and Hollywood Road; although we are heartily glad that His Excellency has had the foresight, the common sense, to postpone the proposed erection of a New Central School on such a site as this. Any person can satisfy himself by visiting the school in Gough Street, and the so-called site for the New Central School, that nearly all the disadvantages complained of in the present building will necessarily be repeated in the proposed new structure. Can there be any doubt that the neighbourhood of the new site will in the course of a year or two be one of the busiest centres of trade amongst Chinese in the whole city, and the noise now so objectionable to the Masters and scholars will most probably be increased instead of lessened? In a climate like ours, a school where hundreds of young people congregate daily should be situated in an open space, as elevated as possible, and entirely removed from the stir and bustle of business life. A commodious building, airy, well ventilated, and with plenty of light, is a sine qua non.