onal digned petition addressed to His Excel
joy the Governor calling his attention to the tes, pointing out in the opinion itioners, the inexpedienoy of faxing visiting the colony to the extent of 2 ton, and praying that the question may carefully reconsidered before the tax is passed as a permanent charge on shipping
I have had much pleasure in acceding to your request by forwarding copies of your letter, together with enclosure, to the China Associa- tions in Shanghai and London. I am, dear sir,
urs obediently.
F. HENDERSON,
Hon. Secretary.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESSTAND
payment to them of pensions Body approved and scale of salaries for
nows
lish School, the importance of which has been urged in my reports for some years. post of olerk was created, to which Mr. U Hang. kam, A.A was appointed, the duties of clerk having previously been discharged by the first it was found to make too great a demand. and second Chinesevassistants, upon whose time
6.-A lecture on education in Burma, de livered before the Rangoon Teachers' Asso- ciation last spring by a Chinese gentleman, Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, shows that the educational problems that are engaging attention in Hongkong are not unknown elsewhere. His words are: "The PRIZE DISTRIBUTION AT QUEEN'S constitution of the Education Department in
COLLEGE.
Burma dates only from 1866. One generation has passed away, and literary culture does not appear to be prized among the natives of Burma, beyond the walls of the school er college, Further, the students who are supposed to know English, and who have passed high University examinations, are unable either to speak or write fairly well in that language."
On the 22nd January His Excellency the Governor, Sir William Robinson, K.CM.G., presided at the annual distribution of prizes at Queen's College. There was a large attendance of parents and friends, amongst those present being Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart (Ĉolonial Secretary), Hon. W. M. Goodman (Attorney- General), Hon. F. H. May (Captain Superin. tendent of Police), Mr. Cyril Platt (Private Secretary to his Excellency), and Surgeon- Colonel Evatt.
The Headmaster (Dr. G. H. Bateson Wright) read his annual report as follows :
Queen's College, 19th January, 1897. The Honourable J. H. Stewart Lockhart, Co.
lonial Secretary.
Sir, I have the honour to forward the annual report on Queen's College for the year 1896.
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and the same.
arded for history Crusoe, 3 f
12 Aoting und Governing Body, Examination.. years I took 100 every bubject;= 1 reckoned a failure pass a boy had t offered, ie, in the subjects, in 5 in the Loy the Preparatory were rec ciently severe. The examination is far abo should have been justifle sphenomenal success extreme weakness in class lowest non-Chinese sec ber examined was 517 per cent. passed, represented three main sections -
Total number examined 1896 1894 217
*follows in the
Percen
passed
1896 1894
[181-_-_-
92
94
96
edit
Upper School 114 Lower School 209201 RL99", Preparatory. 194 169. The whole staff deserves
steady and careful teaching, ample evidence even in those above where the percentager far the majority of papers the the drudgery attendant upon ill-digested and badly written
13. The usual tables of the
7.-It cannot be said in Hongkong that English studies are neglected by students after leaving Queen's College; there is abundant evi- dence that they aim at progressive self-improve- ment. Nor must we forget the colony of our boys in the Northern Universities, as well as those scattered over the area from Japan down the coast of China and Tonkin even to Singapore and beyond Penang. A large proportion of these speak and write in the English language admirably, and several of them are anxions to assist their fellow countrymen in the acquisition of Western ideas: they therefore write for the most part in Chinese, and but little is known 1. The total number on the roll was 988. In of their unostentatious labour. Mr. Luk, our 1895 the attendances had to a great extent re- second Chinese assistant, is engaged in bring covered from the depletion of 1894; but in 1896, ing out a second edition, revised and enlarged, instead of a continuance of this improvement, of his bilingual English grammar, and Mr. there was a relapse, partly due to the reccurence Wan, our late fourth Chinese assistant, has of bubonic plague. There was, however, no published a Chinese translation of outlines of evidence of panic such as was manifest in 1894, English history. Several works, too, have ap- the absence of several boys being attributable peared, due to the industry of our old scholars; to the removal of families from the colony to
a book on insurance and two on European and escape sanitary precautions, not from fear of Chinese civilization compared, by Mr. Chan foreign language. the plague itself, as was reported early in the He-wan; and this year Messrs. Lo Sing-lau and year to the Inspector of Schools by several Mok Lai-chi have independently published little school managers. The admissions and readmis- books on English conversation with Chinese sions were in each quarter of the year quite up equivalents. to the average, which would be inconsistent with the idea that Chinese had in 1896 the same fear
of Hongkong as a plague centre that they had
in 1894.
2.The falling-off ($8,000) in revenue from fees is quite out of proportion to the diminution in attendance referred to above, and is largely attributable to the reduction of the second and
third classes by one half, through causes not under my control. It will take two or three years for the attendances in the Upper School, where the fees are highest, to attain their former figure. An economy of $350 was effected by closing two class-rooms and dispens ing with the services of a temporary assistant
and two monitors. .
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8. While on the subject of publishing, it may not be amiss to add that within the last three years six little books for the use of this College have been printed (the word published is hardly applicable, as they are for private cir- onlation) at the expense of the Government. One of these is "Notes on the Geography of the Chinese Empire," a very useful book by Mr. Dealy, Senior Assistant Master; the remaining five are translations of Chinese books in use in various classes, made long ago by different masters, but suffering from the effects of tradi- tion and transcription, on which account they were finally revised by myself. Considerable saving of time, hitherto employed in copying from the blackboard, is thus effected, to say nothing of prevention of many careless errors in taking down handwriting.
3.—-On' the recommendation of the Governing Body, the section known as the Chinese School (i.e. the classes in which Chinese boys were for 86 9.-His Excellency the Governor at the prize years taught to compose in their native lan-distribution last February offered two prizes of guage and to read and understand their native $50 and $25 respectively to the Chinese boys of literature) was abolished. By the removal of this institution who should write the best and these ten hours a week devoted to the study of second-best essays on the progress of the British Chinese by the lower and preparatory schools, Empire during the last fifty years. Seven boys an increase of three hours a week for the competed last November and the Governing acquisition of English was obtained for the Body, who acted as judges, reported Li Ut and lower school and second and third classes. It Sin Cheung as writers of the two best essays. was not possible to increase the hours in the His Excellency accordingly presented them
Class where with special classes 314 hours with the amounts. a week were already assigned to English, and for eight years the scholars had been from Chinese studies. It should not orgotten that the adoption of this course was formally recommended by the Inspector of 1887 and mooted by him even earlier. the difficulty of ignorance of on the part of Chinese roposed an entrance experience the sions altogether
of the
hool, after.
10. Mr. Jones has been absent on leave throughout the year. Mr. Jameson and Mr. Woodcock went on leave in April, the latter on completion of six years service. Messrs. Bar- clay and Courtney have been acting Assistant Masters since April and June respectively Mr. Fung Ki-cheuk, A.A., one of our cleverest. junior Chinese assistants, resigned in April on getting an appointment as assistant compradore. 11-Our boys paid 33 fees for the Oxford
24 Local Examinations, &but
sented themselves, equally divided among Seniors, Juniors, and Preliminary. Of these per cent., passed, exactly one half of the Seniors,
tion of
boys
examined and passed in each subject percentages of passes are here subjoined. ---
14.-Remarks on individual subjects. © Reading Generally careful and very good. I tonation, without which reading is merely per- must still complain of want of imitation in in- functory, and loses the opportunity of being an aid to acquiring conversational power in a
Colloquial. Very good in the Upper School, with the exception of the two lowest sections of the non-Chinese classes. Good in the Lower
School.
Dictation.With the exception of I. B., who utterly, failed, very marked improvement, chiefly due to more drill in spelling exercises, which is much needed, as Chinese, besides confusing rowel-sounds, are perplexed with double final consonants,
Composition.-Deserves high praise. Boys in the Upper School require, however, to utilize laws of syntax and principles of analysis in finally correcting their own sentences.
Grammar. Here all the non-Chinese sections were lamentably weak; otherwise the work is of a far higher order of merit than usual.
History. Two classes "marred what would otherwise have been an excellent record. In Clases I.A. and N.I., I could not refuse full marks to two boys.
Geography-Generally good; a decided im provement on 1894.
Map-drawing-This is test from memory in the Lower School. The result is quite up to wing marvels of the average, several maps reproduction. In the Upper School the draw- ing of a map forms one of the questions in geo- graphy," but as the portion selected is uncertain the test is severer and but few boys satis
Translation into Chin than 1894
Translation into mechanical, boys attempt inder seldom success
leads them General ment in
Arithr of the the off
Alge non-Chi Eucli A and J non-Chinese
chiefly
are Chinese
able improve
the
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