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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[April 26, 1902
you, Mr. Ho Tung, that I have watched with a greal deal of interest the growth of this building from the time that His Excellency Sir Henry Blake two years ago:laid the foundation stone, and I was looking forward- ~with considerable anticipation to the day when the last stone, would be laid and the building declared open to those pupils for whom it was intended; and 1 feel I am extraordinarily lucky in that that day has occurred during my short term of administering the Govern- ment. Ladies and gentlemen, there are certain features about this school I should wish to call special attention to. This school originates in the munificent generosity of a gentleman-a Chinese gentleman by birth and a British subject-who has identified himself in every way with the interests of the community. Well, the gift to begin with' was a munificent
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Leducation in this Colony. It is timely, will now, with your Excellency's pern ission, to remind ourselves that right views hand over the school building to yon for behoof stion, are developed gradually, and that of the Colony. (Applause:)-21 e- methods have to be, tested step by step before Mr HO TUNG said Your Excellency, ladies they can be pronounced sound, When the and gentlemen, It is not quite two years ago British flags was first hoisted on this island since His Excellency Sir Henry Blake was education of the kind contemplated in this school pleased to perform the first public function in scarcely existed in the Homeland. Far-reaching connection with the building standing before changes and marvellous progress in this science us now, by laying its foundation stone on the have characterised the last sixty years. It is 20th July, 1900. And to-day, in the absence of not too much to say that, the whole system of His Excellency in England in connection with primary education in England has grown up that most auspicious occasion for the whole of during the last sixty years. There is one point the British people, the coronation of our King, of comparison that suggests itself to me, and it your Excellency as Officer Administering the will serve as an illustration of education in Government has kindly consented to identify Hongkong. As I understand it, the law of yourself with its next most important function England at the time when this Colony became -the formal opening of the institution which a British possession is the law of Hongkong will hereafter be known as the Kowloon School. to-day, with such additions, changes, and emenda- It is specially pleasing that this ceremony can be
But after the gift had been made it was tions as have been found neces-ary from time associated with Your Excellency's temporary to time as years have gone by. The course of administration, inasmuch as your presence here thought by theGovernment--I thought--Ishould education has been analagons. At an early to-day furnished a practical evidence of your approach Mr. Ho Tung with a view to modify- period in the history of Hongkong certain Excellency's desire to pursue the same progres- ing in some way the conditions on which it was educational facilities were placed within the sive policy in the matter of education which His first presented. Well, ladies and gentlemen. reach of all; and the school system established Excellency Sir Henry Blake keenly advocates. when any one makes a v ry handsome gift and then has been maintained and improved This manifestation on the part of your Excel then after it has been accepted the person ac- in a manuer creditable for the most part lency of a sympathy not only with the material cepting it begins to make conditions, it would be to all concerned in its working when the but also with the intellectual advancement of not unnatural perhaps that the giver might many-sided aspects of this question in to cosmo- the young people of this Colony. is, I feel sure, have a certain feeling, not perhaps of annoyance, politan a community are kept in view. If very highly appreciated. I have now the bon- but a sort of feeling of surprise. On the con- advance has not been so rapid as some have our and the pleasure to hand to you, sir, the trary Mr. Ho Tung, having heard the argu- ments of the Government, with a liberal- thought to be desirable and practicable, the fact key and to ask you formally to open the Kow- is due to conditions which rendered the problem loon School. In banding the building over to minded generosity that I think is seldom peculiarly intricate. We believe the present the Government I cannot but express my sense surpassed, at once came into these views. We school to be thoroughly up to date, both as re- of very great pleasure that this small gift to approached him somewhat diffidently, but he gards the building itself and the instruction to the Colony of Hongkong has been accepted as met us more than half way, with the result that be carried on within it; and we shall all watch a result of a satisfactory compromise between this school-this magnificent school as it with keen sympathetic interest the work of the Government and myself. There can be no appears to me--which you see now, is to be education on these new lines. Your Excel- doubt that the ultimate issue of this compro- used by Furopean children, and the Govern- lency, acceding to the request of the Government mise will be the better education of the Chinese ment, on its side, has pledged itself to take care to make this a school for European children only, in the Peninsula-a betterment commensurate of the Chit ese resident in the neighbourhood. Mr. Ho Tung has put himself by imagination with the success which must inevitally follow So that Mr. Ho Tung in his munificent and sympathy in the place of a section of the com- the enthusiasm evinced by the parents of those generosity has not only got what he desired, a manity to which he does not himself belong. children for whom this school is to be main-school that would benefit Europeans and Chinese In doing so he has, I think, set an example of tained J see Mr. James, the Headmaster of alike, but he has met the Government in a double broad-minded liberality which we shall do well the Kowloon School, is here pres at to-day. sense; and I feel sure that such an exhibition to imitate. It is seemly and fitting that I make He will, no doubt, seo that his school plu es of generosity, liberal-minded generosity, will this acknowledgment. If Mr. Ho Tung con- within the reach of the youths of Kowloon appeal most strongly to every one of my sents that his school be for European children easy means for the acquisition of know- hearers to-day. on condition that the Government builds at ledge: one, I say, of the ends of the Yaumati a similar school for Chinese children educational efforts of our schools and col- he does something to unite two sections of this leges. But above all, I trust that he will community in good-will and kindly relations regard as its chief end the formation of those which I trust we shall all do our best to main-right moral habits which experience has shown tain. Education is a sphere where such relations can be cultivated to advantage. Let us say ungrudgingly and unhesitatingly that
will do our
best for the education of all, under the best conditions, even if like Mr. Ho. Tung we have to give up something in order to accomplish our purpose: There - is only one other point on which I need touch. The education of a boy or girl depends in the main on two elements. The direct instruction given and received; and the indirect influences under which a child is placed whilst receiving that education. In the master and mistress if the Kowloon School, Mr. and Mr. James, the community and the Government have warrant and ance both as to the teaching itself and as te the indirect influences under which that teaching will be given. Mr. James is known in the Colony. The efficient service he rendered al Queen's College and the position he won there in the esteem of masters and boys points him out, as the right man in the right place. (Applause.) In Mrs. James, whose high quali- fications and experience fit her for the task she has undertal on, the Government has secured an accomplished schoolmistress. The success of the school should be manifest from the beginning and should be greater as Mr. and Mrs. James continue their labours, which we trust they may baspared to do during many years. Your Excel lenoy will observe that in this building everything is provided that may contribute to the discipline, comfort, and decency of the school. We are, Think, justified in the hope and expectation that the institution will prosper, that Mr. Ho Tung will see his generous gift used to the best advantage, (bat here will be trained many loyal patriots faithful citizens, and good men and women, who by the instruction they receive in this school will be fitted to adorn any station in life to which they may be called, and so con- tribute largely to the well-being and prosperity of the Colony. (Applause.); Mr. Ho Tung
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to be of real value in maintaining a true man- hood, in the midst of the traps, pitfalls, and allurements of modern life, and without which an essential part of a true education will have failed of attainment. By a true and complete education is meant that education which bas been defined as "a growth, a development, an (wing the term evolution in a evolution" restricted sense) "of all the poss bilities which God has implanted in our nature; the unifying of these possibilities subordinating them all to the control of the will; in short, the crystallisa. tion of all these possibilities into a pure and noble character." The acquisition of such an ideal education is, as one must be only too conscious, difficult of accomplishment; but nothing really worth having can be obtained without some earnest affort; and these effort; must be directed not by teachers only but by parents and pupils themselves with whom rest the power and the will to justify the establish- ment and the maintenance of the very first institution in the Colony to important departure from the path hitherto pursued in regard to education in Hongkong. (Applause.) It is now my honour and privilege to ask you to accept this key with which to open the school and this tray as a souvenir of the occasion. (Applause.)
inaugurate an
I congratulate you. most beartily, Mr. Ho Tung, on the site you have chosen, I am only a soldier passing through Hongkong, but I have got many ideas about what Hongkong will be in the future; and I cannot help thinking myself that Kowloon will some day very shortly surprise everybody by the extraordinary strides it will make. I think you, Mr. Ho Tung, yourself in the speech you made at the laying of the foundation stone, referred to Kowloon as a suburb of Hongkong. Well, it has been a beautiful suburb of Hong kong. It still is a very pretty suburb of Hongkong, but I cannot help thinking that in the near future, before very many years, anybody coming to describe Kowloon will talk about it as the workshop of Hongkong. I think it is impossible not to see how these strides will go in Kowloon, and therefore I think that a gift of this kind, which will i crease the educational facilities of the residents of Kowloon, is an enormous boon to those residents. I congratulate yen also, Mr. Ho Tung, on the choice of the headmaster, Mr. James. As was said by Mr. Pearce, Mr. James is no stranger to Hongkong. But from what I know, and from all I hear of him, I fancy that we have got a most excellent man to do the work that is set before him; and I also hope that that work will not be uncongenial to him. When Mr. James left Honkong to take up another appointment he left the Colony alone. He has returned to the Colony with Mrs. James, and I venture to say from what I know and from what I hear of Mrs. James, that she will be a fitting helpmate to him in the work that lies before them both. I think we are very fortunate indeed in having secured both their services in this excellent public.
(Applause) Ladies and gentlemen, I do not propose to detain you very much longer. I will only say this. I think anybody who sees, as we all see here, the enormous strides that are being made every day in this Colony, will recognise that of all things we should keep pace with these strides in the matter of education. I certainly am. strongly in favour of giving all possible facilities for education. When one finds the number of people that come to Hongkong and
The key, made of silver, bora the following inscription:-"Kowloon School, opened 19th of April, 1902, by His Excellency Major-General K.C M.G., Sir William Julian Gascoigne, Officer Adminstering the Government of Hong-school. kong," A similar inscription appeared on the silver tray.
H18 EXCELLENCY-Mr. Ho Tung and gentle men, I can assure you it has been a very great pleasure and privilege to me to be asked to come here to-day to take part in this ceremony-s ceremony unique of its kind, insomuch as I understand that this is the first civil European school, that has been opened not only in Kowloon but in the Colony of Hongkong. I can assure
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