Page
February 8, 1904.]
HONGKONG.
DIOCESAN SCHOOL.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
105
vantage of learning from the Inspector of most satisfactory one, and I have had the ad”. Schools, who has made his own independent examination, of this school, that he is entirely satisfied with the work done here. (Applause,) most excellent work has been done and he He tells me that in the upper classes some
mys If on the point, and I thoroughly agree with has sent me examples of it that I might satisfy
school on having attained such a very satis- him; and I congratulate the masters of this
SCHOOL PRIŻE-GIVING, AT candidates passed. All our candidates (16) were successful, viz., 3 Senior, 6 Junior, 7 Preliminary. This is the first time we have had such satis- factory results, and great praise is due to Mr. | Sykes and Mr. Brawn. l'he staff has remained teach music. All have heartily co-operated in the the same as last year, Mrs. Grimes being added to
weeks' absence in hospital, when Mr. Sykes in interests of the school, especially during my nine particular was most indefatigable, Mr. Cooper was absent for a fortnight, having been selected by the Hongkong Cricket Club to play in the Inter-factory result. port match in Shanghai. (Applause.)
The annual distribution of prizes to the boys of the Diocesan School and Orphanage, Bonham Road, took place on the 29th ult., H.E. Mr. F. H. May, C.M.G., performing the ceremony. A large number of visitors attended the fuuction. Right Rev. J. C. Hoare, Bishop of Victoria, presided, and among those present besides His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, were Mrs. May. His Honour Sir William M. Goodman, Chief Justice; Mr. Geo. Piercy, jr., headmaster, and Mrs Piercy, Mr B. A. B. Ponsonby, Private Secretary to His Excellency; Hon. Dr. J. M. Atkinson Principal Civil Medical Officer: Rev. Dr. and Mrs. T. Bateson Wright, Rev. Messrs. T. W. Pearce, F. T. Johnson, C. H. Hickling, T. Wright, E. J. Barnett, W. J. Southam, W. Laird, Gottschalk, and J. H. France, Messra. W. D. Braidwood, T. Landolt, R. Bandet, H. Sykes, A. O. Brawn, C. R. S. Cooper, and
H. Jackson, Mrs. Aruold and Mrs. Grimes. In the corridors were dis- played specimens of drawings by the pupils. The proceedings were commenced by the sing ing by the boys of a song entitled Zoological Gardens," under the conductorship
of Mr. C R. S. Cooper.
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Mr. GEO. PIERCY, the headmaster, then read the annual report of the school, as follows:-
We
are thankful to be able to report that the past Jear has been in many respects the most successful the school has ever had. The health of the establishment has been good and here has been an almost total absence of malarial fever. This is probably due
to the efforts of the Government to exterminate mosquitoes by training the nullahs, and to the little earth-cutting in the neighbourhood for new buildings. Great care is paid to sanitary arrangements and the health of the boys. There has lately been an outbreak of mumps. Our thanks are due to Dr. Bell and Dr. Laing, of the Civil Hospital, who have most kindly attended to boys as in and out-patients, and to Dr. Kew for dental services.
The boarding accommodation has been for be refused admission." Part of the building is some years fully occupied, and boys have had to very old, having been built over 40 years ago, and is constantly needing a great deal of money to be spent in repairs. If the west wing could be erected in the garden, and would were pulled down, a large three-storied block provide larger and more convenient class rooms, and dormitories giving greater accommodation. A gymnasium might be included, and would be
a great boon.
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He had only one principal oriticism to make, and I think it is as well that I should mention it, as it is a subject which the past year; and that is the principle laid engaged the attention of the Government during down by the last Governor, eir Henry Blake, and endorsed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that Chinese boys should not be boys antil the Chinese boys have acquired taught English in the same class as non-Chinese sufficient knowledge of English to really understand the teaching given to the class' in the English language, (Applause) He gave me
an
ex mple of that, He said that in the The following friends have again kindly lower classes of the school ( Chinese boys contributed the prizes:-Mrs. Siebs, His failed in reading English while, I am sorry to Hon. sir W. M. Goodman, Hon. Wei Yuk, say, 16 non-Chinese boys failed in arithmetic. Bowley, Chan Long-hin, Choy Leep-chee, Chinese boys required more teaching in reading Rev. F. T. Jobuson, Messrs. F. B. L.
I think that is pretty good proof that the Chan, H. Hastings, E. A. Hewett, Ho Fook, matical subjects. Men say that knowledge is Choy Po-sieu, D. Elphinstone, Fung Wa English aud the non-Chinese boys in the mathe- Ho ung, Sin Tak-fan, T. S. Smith, F. power, and so it is; and it is the duty of you Southey (England), J. Witchell.
boys to avail yourselves of every opportunity of acquiring knowledge; but there are other things besides knowledge, and I am glad to say that one of the features of the report that has pleased me more than any other is the appendix tẻ it, the report from Rev, Mr. Wright on his examination of this school in religions know- ledge. Mr. Wright paid a high compliment both attained was, taking it all round, of a high to teachers and pupils, and he says the knowledge standard. I think that is most satisfactory. I have said that knowledge is power, but there are in these later days, I am sorry to find, sometimes many clever men who think that because they are clever and because they possess knowledge they can do without religion. Now, let me remind you boys who are about to embark upon the battle of life that you will find the most helpful of all things in the trials, temptations and disappointments, aye, and the sorrows with which the life of every man is more or less filled-I say the most helpful thing for you in these hours is an earnest and steadfast religious belief. (Applause.) potent factor A clever and brilliant
man may be B long run the most useful member of society, -
in society, but in the
the most useful man for his country, is the man who, filled with honesty of purpose, love of truth, and loyal devotion to duty, carries out the Divine teaching by working heart and soul every day of his life at the task to which God has called him. (Applause.) If you carry out that teaching I can assure you that you will do good in this world, no matter how humble the path you may be called upon to tread, and when at the end of life's day you cast down your burden you will have the satisfaction of attaining that happiness which is born of the consciousness of having done your duty to the best of your ability, not only to your temporal masters, but to the Supreme Master. the Master of the Universe., (Applause.)
Knowledge (Rev T. Wright) was as follows:
The report of the Examiner in Religous
"I have again conducted the examination of the Diocesan Boys' School in religious knowledge, and am glad to
be able to re- port that the condition of the school as a whole is such as to reflect great credit on both preceptors and pupils. Forms I and I were examined viva voce, the remaining five forms by printed questions. In all 148 boys presented themselves for examination, and of these the answering of 120 was sufficiently good to merit a pass, 28 failing to reach that standard. The papers of Forms VII and VI were excellent Those of Form V were very good indeed. Form IV sent in papers not quite so good as I had hoped for, aud Form III was somewhat disappointing, but I have reason to believe that many of the boys, especially the Chinese boys, did not quite grasp the full meaning of the questions. In Forms II and I there were very few failures, the work having been done so well the best. In all the forms the questions on the as to make it difficult to decide who were really Catechism received the best answers, showing fundamentals of the faith. that the boys bad been well grounded in the When it is re- membered that diverse races aud nationalities are represented, that English is not the mother tongue of a large proportion of the boys, and that few of the lads have the benefits of home training in religious subjects, it will be seen that the task of the teachers is no easy one. In spite of these difficulties the staff has acquitted itself admirably. Taking the school generally I have no hesitation whatever in saying that in this department of its work it will compare most favourably with similar institutions at home." (Applause.) The
During the summer months the boys went once or twice a week by steam launch to neigh- bouring beaches for sea-bathing and swimming, and greatly enjoyed these outings. The season was closed by a picnic. We landed (by kind permission of the Colonial Secretary) at Stone- catters Island and had various aquatic sports, for which prizes were provided. at the Hong kong Regatta in December, our boat's crew trained by an "old boy" (Mr. A. J. Mackie) came in first in the Schools' Race, amidst much applause. Through the generosity of another old boy (Mr. H. Hastings, of Formosa) we were able to have a launch to wit.ess this aud other events. In cricket, the school team has been
generally successful. The boys also play football and tenuis. During the year two fives- courts have been erected by Messrs. Palmer and Turner after the Eton and Rugby models respectively. These are, I believe, the only fives-courts in the Colony, and are greatly appreciated by masters and boys. breaking-up concert before the summer vacation was a great success. On several of the winter evenings we have been entertained and instructed by the magic lantern. Lient, Browne, R,E,, kindly gave us Coronation pictures; Engineer-Commander W. J. Austey, R.N.,
a tour round the globe; Rev. T. Wright. Japanese and Hongkong views; Messrs, Everall and Stebbins, English and European pictures; Revs. H. R. Wells and Burkwell, an illustrated lecture on the world-wide work of the B. and F. Bible Society.
The income from fees was considerably greater than in any previous year; the average attendance increased by 8, and was 171 for the 241 days on which school was taught, and until we get a larger building we cannot hope to greatly improve on this.
The Inspector of Schools examined, on Decem-
ber 15th, and following days, all the boys (151) who had fulfilled the Government requirement of 100 days; of these, according to his return, 136, or 90 per cent., passed. At the Oxford Local Examination 68 per cent, of the 98 Hongkong
His Excellency then presented the prizes to the successful scholars, and afterwards the choir sang a patriotic song. "The British Flag," the effect of which was heightened by the introduc- tion of miniature Union Jacks that the boys displayed.
hop, Mr. Piercy, Ladies and Gentlemen-It has HIS EXCELLENCY then said-My Lord Bis-
to present the prizes. I looked forward to it been a great pleasure to me to come here to-day
has been greater than my anticipations. There with pleasure, and I may say that the pleasure
is a spirit about this school, as evidenced by the song we have just heard sung, that goes to the heart of every Britisher. (Applause). We cannot despair that this Colony will hold her place in the Empire-aye, and make even å bigger place for herself when we have our young boys brought up with the spirit of patriotism that we have seen evidenced just now. I am very pleased indeed to see Mr. Piercy, recovered from his severe accident, and again able to take his place in the direction of read is, I think you will all agree with me, a affairs. (Applause.) The report he has just
sure he was expressing the feelings of all pre-
His Lordship Bishop HоARE said he was sent when he thanked His Excellency most present the prizes, and more than that they heartily for coming there that morning to
bottom of his heart, for the strong, helpful thanked him, and he personally did from the words His Excellency had spoken to the boys on the great importance of the religious side of their education. It was not the first time he had heard the same thoughts expressed by those who came to give away the prizes, and he hoped the boys would remember this, that it was not only the pastor who spoke of religion and urged upon them the importance of religion. They had heard the General and His Excellency and others who were not of the clerical profession telling them the same thing, that if you want to lead a good and useful life you must first of all get that which was the beginning of knowledge-the knowledge of God. In referring to the teaching of English
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