49
form of a large number of free foundation scholarships, such as are suggested on pp.10 and 12 of the report intended to carry boys from the private Vernacular Schools to the Government or aided Anglo-Chinese Schools, assuming fees to be charged, as they are now charged in the Anglo-Chinese Schools.
I do not say that such a solution would commend itself to me. Sir C.C. Smith lays down in his memorandum that "the first duty is to maintain Vernacular Schools, and certainly it would need very strong grounds to justify withholding Government assistance from Vernacular education in a large native community such as exists at Hong Kong, thereby presumably excluding the very poorest from the benefits of education, but I do say that it would be a logical course to adopt on the assumption that the last paragraph of the report represents the real views of the Commission, and