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the Italian aud French Convents, the first of which takes European children, and the others also, but they include Chiasse children as well. With regard to the education of Chinese girls, I am not altogether satisfie 1 with the progres made during the last four years. The Belilios School is doing very well. It has overflowed. its quarters, and, as you are aware, $5,000 ba been placed on the estimates for next year for building an addition to the school. The amounts spent by the Government on that school Ia 1907 the are perhaps worth noting. amount was 7,700; in 1903, $8,400; in 1939 $9,300; in 1910, $10,500; and this year, $12,200; and next year the estimate is $13,700. There- fore, ince 1907 we have almost doubled our expenditure. The amount the Government spent on grant schools for girls was, in 1907 $18,900, and last yer it was $22,300. This shows the same progress, though I will admit it is not as much progress as I should wish to s40, and does not compare with what is done in the Goy rament schools. We come now to the question of an educational board, as the hon. member said, with or without statutory powers. If it is with statutory powers, before criticising in any way the idea of the institution, I should like to know what those statutory powers are to be. The hon. member was kind enough to say that during the last two or three years educational matters had received a good deal of attention from me. Thor have been some considerable changes, and, as I have said, the expenditure has nearly doubled. Therefore, I am myself of the opinion that, if the Colony thinks educational questions are boing earnestly and carefully considered, it is better to let the recent ch-nges have a little more time to mature before a new authority is created. I fear, in leed, that the creation of an Educational Board at once would practically abolish the Chinese board which is created, as I hardly see how the two boards can exist together, and he asks for a larger subsidy on behalf of the Chinese board. If, however, the consensus of opinion is against me and it is cou- | sidered desirable to create a second board, I shall be glad to consider the details of it when we know what its scope and constitution and what its stutatory powers are likely to be. With regard to the proposed increased vots to the University from $9,000 to $12,000, I am fully in symp thy with that, because I think the Colony will gain very substantial bouefit from the University and should bear a fair abare towards its cost. Personally, my view is, in order to allow the University to remain a free institution under its own control, that the proper system would be for the Council to grant a capital sum which might be spread over a series of years and credited to the endowment fund, which would support the rogius professorship. A sum of two lak s might be spread over five years. If the unofficial members desire that I should repr sent that view to the Secretary of State I shall be glad to do so. In the meantime I would pro- pose to this Connoil a supplementary vote for the difference between the present sum of $9,000 and the proposed $13,000. It so happens that since the estimates were laid on the table a olerical error has been discovered in the amount of the receipts it was expected to derive from the new Deputy Official Receiver and Trustee's office. The sum entered is $2,000, whereas it should have been $9,000. Therefore, we have All unexpected credit of $7,000 which will more than
The cover this. stitution, I may remark, of a Deputy Official Receiver's office has beau entirely & success, both for the more rapid! transaction of bankruptcy work and as an important item of raising revenue. The hon. member representing the Chamber of Comm rce
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alluded to the principal details under the head j of public works. In the first place be touched on the question of nullahs and complained that the vote in the estimates this year was not. sufficient. It is a considerable increase on w) at has been votel is preceding y ars, and it is the sum which I understand the Sanitary Board asked for, In 1910 the vote was $15,000, and we spent nearly double, while in 1911 it was $25,000, all of which was spent. This year it has been increased to $30.000. That i is as large a sum as we can fairly vote from the revenue at our hand. Most of the im- portant nullahs have been trained at a total cost of about two and a half lakhs. With regard to the typhoon refuge, my hon, friend the Director of Public Works has already replied. I would remind the bon. member that we have pat down a very large sum indeed, three and a half lakhs to be spent during the coming year. I will not discuss the question of the architecture of the Past Office and the Law Courts, as I am not competent to do so, but I will coho the wish of the hou. member that the fuost site in the Colony may soon be built upon. Complaint was also made that the estimate for the Magistracy was not known. I explained in my budget speech that the rosson for that was that the accommodation required in the building ba? not yet been flually decided, but would be dia. cussed by the Public Works Committee. As to the extension of the Taipo Road to the frontier, that has naturally been opposed by the railway authorities. because they do not wish to construct a road alongside the rail- way which would be in direct opposition with! it. I think roads demand our attention. In the first instance, they should be feeders to our railway and not competitors. The hon member also drew attention to the question of a pier. I think there is little doubt that, wherever the station for the railway may be, we shall require a pier at the end of Nathan Road. The more I have examined the question the more it appears to me that this will autoubtedly be the case, If a fairly large pier 20 by 35 feet is constructed which would give accommodation for a launch at each side and one at the end, its cost. wonld be $10,000 if built of woo', with a life estimated at 25 years, and I hope that may be taken in hand during the coming year. The i hon. member representing the Chamber of Commerce also asked my particular considera- tion of the question of the linking up of our live with the Haukow line. I can assure him that has never been absent from our negotiations with regard to the working agreement of this railway, and there is every prospect of theCa ton section being linked up with Hankow, With regard to the police, the Captain Superintend out has already informed you that a committee was recently appointed to go into the question of vehicular transport, and they hare submitted a report which is having attention. The recommendations contained in that report will be carried out without delay. Of course there are difficulties in controlling street traffic owing to the constant ebb and flow from Canton, mostly of coolies unused to civilised methods of road transport The Indian and Chinese police are not good at controlling traffic, and the European police are exceedingly expensive. We have to cut our coat according to our cloth, and the Europeans we can afford we must use with discretion. They are consid- erably in excess, having regard to population, of the European police la Straits Settlements or Ceylon. The bon. member expressed satis- faction with the lunatic asylum so far as it related to the Chinese. I have been go ing into the question lately, and I hope that we shall, as the senior unofficial member said, be able to expedite the transfer of Chinese lunatics to the excellent institution at Canton.
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