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Annexe B.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR, TECHNICAL INSTITUTE.
The Institute was open as usual during 8 months of the year.
The number of students in attendance during the Session ending June 30th was 535, as against 576 in 1915. The decrease is due mainly to the closing of the Classes in Electricity, Machine Drawing, and Mechanics, owing to lack of support. At the same time one new Class, Translation, was opened, with an average attendance of 10 during the Session. The average cost per pupil was $12.46, the lowest on record.
At the end of the Session, Examinations were conducted as in previous years by Independent Examiners. 293 Candidates, or 54.8% of the total number enrolled, were examined (339 in 1915); of these, 194 passed in 1 Subject, and 6 in 2 Subjects, a total of 200 (68.2%) passed.
The following remarks are from the Reports submitted by Examiners after the June Examination. The recommendations contained therein have been adopted wherever possible.
Field Surveying.-"I am of opinion that more time should be spent in the field, and that the students should receive far more tuition than they are getting at present. Drawings showing surveys carried out, with calculations for traverses and areas attached, should be submitted every year.
English, 1st and 2nd years.-"The work on the whole was up to a good standard."
Physics.-"The work covered in the Session was that required for the Hongkong University Matriculation Examination. This was possible only because all the students had previously given at least one year to a study of the subject. I am of opinion that there ought to be a Two Years' Course in Physics at the Technical Institute. The written or Theory Examination was well done on the whole."
Book-keeping. The Examiner reports that in the 2nd Year Class although a fairly severe test was imposed, 3 out of 4 Candidates examined passed, 2 sending in excellent papers. In the 1st Year, the papers were weak.
Shorthand (Elementary).—"The papers submitted from this section were uniformly good. The students displayed a remarkably clear and complete acquaintance with the many Rules, and very little fault could be found with the majority of the papers, which were both neat and accurate. Half-a-dozen of the papers would bear very favourable comparison with any submitted by a similar class of English pupils."
Theory (Intermediate).-"Evidence of very careful application and earnest work is found in nearly the whole of the papers in this section, which is perhaps the most difficult of the three. The students displayed a creditable comprehension of phraseography
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