19
might be going on to other work before long.
My own impression is that Mr. Cuttle knew very
little about local conditions in Hong Kong before
he applied, and that quite apart from the edu-
cational position, he learned during his inter-
view a good deal about life in Hong Kong which he
did not much like. A man who attaches as much
importance as he does to the unfavourable influence
of Hong Kong climate on books is not, I think,
really keen on the job, quite irrespective of
the possibility of his being able to do useful
work in it.
With reference to the draft to the
Board of Education, I have spoken to Mr. Richardson
(S.I.R. branch) who thinks it quite possible that
we might get suitable candidates from the adminis-
trative staffs of local education authorities,
and that they would not be so "pernickety" as
H.M.I. candidates. The Board would not, however,
be prepared to write to local education authori-
ties asking them to mention suitable persons.
What they would do would be to advertise in the
education papers, mentioning that people with
local education authority experience would be
especially suitable, and they would insert the
advertisment also in "Education", the organ of
the local education authorities. I think that
they would be prepared to do this only if they
were entrusted with the task of actually selecting
and recommending a candidate to the Secretary of
State, just as they do in the case of women's
appointments and some male teachers' appointments
in the colonial service. They would not, I