HEAD MASTER'S REPORT.
279
Diocesan School and Orphanage.
REPORT, 1897-8.
The Committee have the honour of presenting the Twenty-ninth Annual Report, and of thanking all Subscribers to the School Fund for their assistance.
The accounts have been kindly andited by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. The balance of $308.71 due to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank is in consequence of extraordinary repairs to the buildings. This sum, and a further sua equivalent to £43 for the passage of an assistant master from England, will have to be met out of the next year's receipts.
The large increase in the an increase in the teaching staff.
uber of scholars has necessitatedl Mr. E. Ralphs has been appointed
to an assistant mastership at Queen's College; his place has been taken by Mr. B. Tanner; Mr. W. H. Manners has joined the staff: and Mrs. E. Arnold is assisting in the teaching of the junior boys.
His Excellency Sir Willian Robinson, G.C.M.G., presided at the annual meeting, and distributed the prizes, on January 12th.
The Head-Master's Report, and the Report of the Examiner is Holy Scripture are attached, together with other information, which show, we think, the good progress being made in the School.
School was taught on 249 week days; the scholars numbered 185, being 11 less than the previous year, but the average daily attendance was 100:58 was compared with 91-76 in 1896, and our bighest on record.
Eleven candidates entered for the Oxford University Local Examinations in July, and 8 passed, viz., 5 in the Junior, 3 in the Preliminary. E. S. Ford attained 2nd Class Honours, being the first Hongkong candidate to do so. He was specially distinguished in English,' and was bracketed 3rd in that subject in the British Empire.
85 boys were present at the Annual Government Examination on 15th and 16th December by the new Iuspector of Schools: 70 passed or 82:35 per cent., as compared with 97 % in 1894, and 89 în 1895. (Dr. Eitel was too ill to examine the school in 1896). In English History, Elementary Science, Drawing and Copy Writing: 100 per cent passed in Reading, 988: Algebra, 972: Geography, 894 = English Grammar 816: Dictation 80-3: Arithmetic 788: English Composition, 684: Euclid, 632: Physical Geography, 588 °¡, ; in Mensuration one boy passed, one failed. These results compare un- favourably with former years and will reduce our grant considerably. The questions were very difficult, as, for instance, the V. Standard boys were expected to understand and analyse this sentence: In the true aspect of things, too often neglected by us, we are all panpers in the almshouse of this world, withont dignity, without skill, or industry. It is difficult for Chinese boys to write good idiomotei English, and consequently the failures in Composition were many.
In May, the Hongkong Branch of the Navy League kindly offered prizes to the value of $40 for essays on The Command of the Sea,' and The Use of the British Navy,' 18 essays were submitted to the Rev. R. F. Cobbold, M.A., who kindly undertook