SIR,
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 313
Enclosure 8 in No. 39.
Victoria, Hong Kong, April 5, 1851. We have the honour to reply to your letter of 1st April 1851, by the following Report on the Government Chinese schools for the past year.
2. The average number of scholars under instruction has been 93; 30 at Victoria, 18 at Stanley, 20 at Aberdeen, and 25 at Wongneichoong.
3. The teacher at Aberdeen having been dismissed for gross misconduct was replaced by another, with whose success in the instruction of his pupils we have reason to be satisfied. The teacher appointed to the school at Wongneichoong, opened during the year, is an elderly man, a native of the village, a schoolmaster by profession, and a Christian convert. He had for many years taught in that neighbourhood, and was recommended by the villagers themselves as a fit person.
4. The system pursued in the Victoria school not meeting with our approbation, Mr. Moncrieff proposed to the teacher to remove to St. Paul's College and there receive instruction, as well in the arts of teaching generally as in the truths of the Christian religion. The offer was accepted, and the school served for the time by a teacher from the establishment of the College. After a fair trial, however, it was considered improbable that the original teacher would soon be able to conduct the school in a mode of which we could approve, and as the Bishop of Victoria had a vacancy for a teacher in the College, and kindly agreed to take this man permanently into connexion with him, we thought it better that his relation to the Government should cease, and that the teacher who supplied his place should be continued in charge of the school. We regret that in consequence of this change the number of scholars decreased for a time. The former teacher received the 10 dollars a-month only in aid of his school, which before any Government assistance was granted consisted of more than 30 scholars, but the present teacher stood upon a different footing. Latterly the number has again increased, and it now corresponds with that which by the effect of the Government grant was added to the original school.
5. The teachers of the four schools are now, therefore, all nominees of the Government, not receiving, as far as we are aware, any compensation from their pupils, and they are all professed Christians.
6. Christian books have been introduced into all the schools, but it is not compulsory on the scholars to learn them. If the parents object, the course of study is confined to native reading.
7. The following are the principal books now used:—
Native Works. Christian Works. The three character Classic. Medhurst's three character Classic. The one thousand character Classic. Bishop Boone's Catechism. The four books and five Classics. The Bible.8. The progress of the scholars has been, on the whole, tolerably satisfactory; we hope, however, by a more effectual supervision, and by the introduction of a few elementary works on various branches of useful knowledge, as soon as Chinese literature shall have been enriched by these, to work some improvement. The great distance of three, or at least two, of the four schools, coupled with our imperfect knowledge of the language, renders the supervision difficult and unsatisfactory. We can, however, only suggest one remedy that lies beyond ourselves, and this is, that the school Committee should be remodelled, and that to the Bishop of Victoria should be accorded the entire superintendence of the schools, or at least a joint superintendence,
9. The most serious impediment to progress is the fluctuation of the scholars in each school, owing to the caprice, but principally to the avarice or the necessities of the parents who are unwilling to allow children to remain at school who may be employed elsewhere, with, to them, more tangible prospect of pecuniary gain, for the importance attached by Chinese to the acquisition of knowledge, though great, is, we fear, secondary to that attached to the acquisition of money.
We are, &c.,
(Signed)
C. B. HILLIER,
E. T. R. MONCRIEFF, LL.D., Committee for superintending Chinese Schools.
The Hon. Major Caine,
Colonial Secretary.
(True Copy.)
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.