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ter having censured the term, superstition, used in the report of the Government School by Mr. Stewart to express the support given to religious education, the Very Rev. Father continues: "It is a great mistake to take men for boys, and boys for men, and we are at a loss to under- stand how boys going to school can be compared to young men who go to a counting house, there being a "sensible and visible difference between a boy seven years old and a lud of eighteen. The comparison instituted "in a recent Report between the study of the Sciences and of Language and the dealings in the Share Market is not by any means logical as the former is more general and "more comprehensive than the latter, and if these are the merest truisme, we know not, whither the elementary rules of logic are gone."
In the proceedings of the Legislative Council held on 20th September 1872 we remark à vote of $600 a year for the Reformatory and $1,800 for the Sisters of Charity. As for schools the Governor proposed a system of grants-in-uid which should be paid according to results "The question, however, before the Council, His Excellency said, was a purely charitable matter. The vote being for housing and feeding the wretched foundlings brought to the orphana- ges." (Mail.)
In the Report for the year 1872 on the Government Schools we read that four wore schools for Chinese have received grants-in-aid and that one was added to the number of Government Schools properly so called. The number of the scholars had increased by 188; the regularity also had improved. The schools at Little Hongkong and Yau-a-ti gave rise to much annoyance. The outlay for 1872 was $15,979, 63, from which deducting the fees from scholars at Central School, there remains the sam of $14,187, 92. The total annual enrolment was 1480, the maximium month- ly enrolment 837. The maximum regular attendance 1,157; the minimum 665. Number of boys attending schools of all denominations 3,102; total number of uneducated chil- dren 10,000.
A scheme of grants-in-aid for schools was agreed to in the Meeting of the Legislative Council, April 24th, as also was the proposal for the formation of à Committee, which would take in hand the translation of some of the English books in use at the Irish National Schools into Chinese for use in the schools that carne under this scheme (Mail). The grants-in-aid being given only for results in se-
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cular instruction the point occurred, said the Mail, "what measure, are to be taken to render the teaching in Chinese Schools sufficiently undenominational as to fairly come under the terra secular. It must be recollected that the Classics, in fact all native books as yet used in schools under purely Chinese control are not secular but confucian. It would hence seem that in order to provide suitable works for secular teaching in Chinese, something suitable would have to be selected. Both their style and matter render near- ly all works of the novel class objectionable; nor in view of the absurd farrago of supernatural nonsense contained in most of the native historical works, would they be more sui- table. It would in fact appear that series of elementary works in good Chinese would have to be composed or translated in order to meet this difficulty. This fact, that Chinese edu- cation is not secular because it is not Christian, has been some what oddly overlooked in many quarters, though the Inspector himself has long been conscious of the necessity of such books as we allude to." (Mail.)
The grants-in-aid scheme was the following:---
1.- Before any grant can be made to a school, the Go-
verument must be satisfied that
(a). The school is conducted as a public elementary sehool.
(b). The school is not carried on with a view to pri- vate emolument.
(c). The school premises are healthy, well lighted, drained and ventilated, properly furnished, and contain sufficient internal space for the average attendance.
(d). The master is competent.
(e). The average attendance is not under twenty. (f). The time devoted to secular instruction is not less than four hours daily.
(g). The school roll is carefully kept and proper di- cipline maintained.
(k). The organization is good, and the work in accor dance with a proper time table.
2.- The Government will not interfere in any way with:
(a). The religious instruction of a school.
(b). The hours for such instruction, provided they are either before, or after the four hours of secular instruction required by this code.
(c). The appointment of a teacher, provided he is competent.
(d). The school books, provided they are sufficient,
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