Inspector Mr. Lobscheid, I requested the Board of Education to recommend to me the name of a fit person as his successor for submission to Your Grace. This, as knowledge of Chinese was considered necessary, the Board after some delay found it impossible to do, and the difficulty led to a proposal - known as Dr Legge's Scheme - for the establishment of a Central School with a head master instead of an Inspector, a copy of which proposal formed an Enclosure to my Despatch No 38 of 23rd March last.
As soon as this scheme, which involved additional expenditure, was approved of by the Legislative Council, I requested the Board of Education to recommend to me a fitting Head Master for the proposed School; and I adopted this course because, as I considered the success of the whole plan depended upon the person selected for the appointment, I thought it right to leave the selection in the hands of the Gentlemen by whom the Scheme was devised, and who had been good enough to undertake gratuitously the labour of supervising it.
The Board accordingly entered into communication with the Bishop of Victoria, who was then in London, and laid down what they deemed to be essential qualifications in a Candidate for the office. It appears, however, that the Bishop had not received this letter when he communicated with Your Grace.