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-matters of business have to be
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discussed with the Chinese. Officials
in the neighbourhood, and it would
seem, on this account also, important
that the Governor should not be
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"dependent on any one outside the
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"service to interpret for him. The plan Your Excellency proposes of lending Cadets to Peking to learn Mandarin
in connection with the Consular
"Student-Interpreters, and under
the Superintendence of the Chinese
Secretary of Legation,
seems
to me
a
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most admirable one.
It would
secure good guidance for young
men
in their first studies of Chinese, and
"other advantages besides."
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(2) In eighteen months a young-
"man of good ability for acquiring a
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language and diligence, could lay
a good foundation both in the Book
language and in Mandarin; and
if he brought a Teacher with him
returning to Hong Kong, he could by a couple of hours study daily
keep
up
and increase his Mandarin.
"In eighteen months more,
he
"could.