indeed the whole scheme has been drafted upon the basis of that in force in that colony. I am not sanguine enough to expect that it will not require to be altered, but until experience has been gained to show that the Standard should be modified or improved, it is considered that it may be safely suited to the educational establishments here.
In connection with this subject I may add that a set of Chinese School Books specially prepared so as to form a graduated series of Reading Books on the principle of the Irish National School Books is much needed. At present the Chinese children are taught little or nothing but the moral apophthegms of Confucius and Mencius, which they commit to memory but do not tend in any way to their education in the proper sense of that term.
I have, therefore, appointed a Committee consisting of the Inspector of Schools and other Gentlemen who are in charge of the private Schools in the Colony, who have readily placed their services gratuitously at the disposal of the Government.