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I am to state that the Honourable Mr. Stewart Lockhart has been consulted on the subject of the proposed compulsory education of girls, and that he is of opinion that the objections to it are very strong.
He points out that well-to-do Chinese, who are seldom appearing in public, require their servants to be constantly in attendance to run errands. If they are compelled to do without them, even for a few hours a day, they would probably prefer to employ grown-up women about the house, who in their turn, would be liable to be tempted into prostitution when separated from their husbands and families.
Also, the objection which respectable Chinese entertain to allowing girls to wander about the streets must not be lost sight of in considering any scheme which would involve their continual absence from home for considerable periods. In many cases, this objection amounts to a positive apprehension for their safety from the kidnappers and other harpies who are constantly on the alert to decoy and ruin young girls.
4. In fine, the system of female education should, I consider, begin with the upper or, at any rate, the independent classes, and proceed downwards: to reverse the process appears to me undesirable.
The protection of servant girls is steadily persevered with by this Department, and in the case of those under the surveillance of the Registrar General, a certain amount of home education is insisted upon, but I do not feel myself able to advise that the attendance at school of all servant girls should be pressed upon the Chinese in the immediate future.
6. As regards girls other than those in a dependent condition, I shall be ready, as I have already informed the Inspector of Schools, to use my endeavours to promote their education in whatever way may appear most desirable.