"as giving offence upon religious grounds. You will, however, observe that the omission of the word "Elementary" from I (a) of the Rules, necessitates a further alteration in the definition (a) of "Public Elementary School" in the Schedule; where in place of the words, "a Public Elementary School shall mean a school where elementary education is the principal part of the education given," the following words should be substituted, "a Public School shall mean a school where education is given in the subjects of the Standards."
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It seems to me necessary to insist upon certain other points objected to by Bishop Raimondi, (8 and 9 in his letter to Dr. EITEL). The requirement of 200 attendances under Rule 14 should be preserved, as I regard it as a safeguard for the thoroughness of the education; and, in order to secure the general efficiency of the schools, the children must not be withheld from examination without reasonable excuse. I also consider that, for the present, at any rate, the capitation fees should remain as they are. Bishop RAIMONDI appears to me to do only justice to the Government when he describes the Grant-in-Aid Scheme as a fair and liberal one. It will be time enough to consider the propriety of augmenting these fees after the Roman Catholics have come into the scheme, if, upon a fair trial, they are able to show that the amounts granted are unreasonably low, or are so arranged as to operate unfairly to their schools.
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"As to the question of building grants, which have hitherto been dealt with separately upon the merits of each case as it arose, it is, of course, impossible for the Colony to make to the Managers grants equivalent, or indeed approaching, to the sums which it spends upon the Government Schools, but I am quite willing to approve, as part of the Code, a general regulation on this subject applicable to schools receiving grants-in-aid and framed so as fairly to meet all cases. And I have to request you to transmit for my approval before it is brought into operation the drafts of such a regulation, which, if approved, will eventually become part of the Grant-in-Aid System."
3. THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS TO THE HONOURABLE THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.
[No. 36.]
SIR,
INSPECTORATE OF SCHOOLS,
HONGKONG, 25th April, 1879.
In accordance with the instructions contained in your letter No. 329 of 27th ultimo, I have the honour to forward, under this enclosure, a draft of the new Grant-in-Aid Scheme, revised by myself on the basis of the Despatch No. 15, of 6th February, 1879, from the Right Honourable Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bt., M.P., to Governor POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G.
2. As regards "Building Grants" I have drafted, in accordance with the Secretary of State's instruction, a general regulation, which is simply an abridgment of the regulations introduced in England under the "Code (1871) of Minutes of the Education Department."
3. I take this opportunity to direct the attention of the Government to another alteration in the Grant-in-Aid Scheme, which I beg to suggest, and which is of no vital importance to the Scheme, but of practical utility in Hongkong. I propose to abolish rule 1e, on page 1, "the average attendance is not under twenty." This rule is borrowed from the English Code, but is quite unsuited to the peculiar character of Chinese schools, in which class teaching finds but limited application, so that a teacher can scarcely teach more than twenty boys effectively. More than one half of the Government schools of the Colony have actually all along had an average daily attendance of less than twenty. To this I enclose a table showing the number of those Government schools, out of a total of thirty, in proof of which, during the last five years, the average daily attendance was under twenty. This table is compiled from the Annual Reports of the Education Department as published in the Government Gazette.
4. I should also like to direct the attention of the Government to the fact that the Hongkong Scheme, as it now stands, makes no provision for night-schools nor for industrial schools, which are admitted in England under the New Code of 1871.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
E. J. EITEL, Inspector of Schools.
The Honourable W. H. MARSH,
Colonial Secretary.