8
719
"Chinese into English
V
斤
"
required. I gave that
English was required.
appointment by open competition. I had the
good fortune to secure the services of his
Lordship the Bishop of Victoria, of my deceased
friend Mr. Charles May, who was at the head
of the Magistracy, and of the Honourable Ng Choy
as three independent examiners to conduct the examination for that appointment. They
reported that eleven boys presented themselves
as candidates for the examination. I believe
they were all Chinese youths,
but I am sorry
they reported that not one
"could pass the examination, and the reason
they gave in their report
was the want of
power or experience in translating Chinese
into English. Well, in the following year
my honourable friend Dr. Stewart, the
headmaster of the School, tested for me the
capacity of the boys of this school in speaking English, and Dr. Stewart presented a report
to the Government in which he said of the
Chinese boys eighteen
were able to speak English with considerable fluency, fifty
spoke with diffidence, and 336 could not be said
to speak English at all. Now, another independent examination has been held within the last few days by an impartial
board of examiners, and I find that that board, speaking through the report of Dr. Chalmers, inform me that scarcely any of the Chinese boys produced in translation into English a single grammatical sentence, and in another part of Dr. Chalmers' report he
says, "The classes for translation
are barely