7 12
and scientific subjects in the matriculation examinations
were obtained by candidates from the Government's
Vernacular Middle School, indicating a useful balance
in a curriculum which aimed at the predominance of
literary chinese.
With the Common
As regards the Colony's judiciary and its legal
posts in general it is equally unlikely that, for the
purpose now in view, much guidance is to be sought
from Hong Kong as a single entity.
Law of England as the basis of everything it was
inevitable that those chosen to interpret that Law
should be those who had been to the fountain-head.
By the existence of a "unified" Colonial Legal Service,
covering all the Crown Colonies, first appointments
and transfers and promotions were effected without
difficulty. It is true that Hong Kong contained a
small number of fully-qualified barristers of Chinese
race and a greater number of solicitors equally
competent to practise. In both cases private practice
was generally lucrative and, although there could be
no theoretical obstacle to their inclusion in the
Colonial Legal Service, there was in fact no case
of such an appointment up to the time of the Pacific