4. Of the Chinese population 6% claim ability to speak English and 5% to read and write in that language.
5. The Superintendent of Census, however, warns us: "There is of course a strong temptation to claim attainments which one does not possess, or possesses only in a very small degree. The figures are likely, therefore, to err by giving too favourable an impression of educational attainments, and this error is made from time to time. For this reason comparison with previous censuses is of uncertain value, and is also difficult on account of the different method for presentation of the results adopted in 1921".
6. According to the Census report there were 119,008 children between the age of five and fourteen distributed as under :-
Hong Kong and Kowloon 88,481 New Territory 17,940 Afloat 12,587 Total 119,008SCHOOLS.
7. A "school" is defined in the Education Ordinance as a place where ten or more persons are being or are habitually taught.
8. There were 1,079 schools in 1933 and the number of pupils in attendance was 72,917 as compared with 70,759 in 1932.
9. Of the 1,076 schools controlled by the Education Department in 1933 twenty were provided schools. The cost of their equipment and maintenance is a charge on the colonial revenues and, except for a few temporary appointments, the teachers are civil servants on the permanent establishment of the Colony.
10. Of the 1,059 unprovided schools 322 are partly dependent on assistance from public funds. The remaining 737 unprovided schools are subject to registration and inspection by the Education Department but receive no financial assistance from funds at the disposal of the Director of Education.
There are three uncontrolled schools.