114
Please convey to the Committee my appreciation of the liberal way in which they have met various points raised by me at our recent interview, and assure them that I shall work for success with undivided attention.
Colonial Office.
C. P. Lucas, Esq.,
Attached to 27529
I'am, &c.,
A. HUGH FISHER, A.R.E.
Attached to 27529
115
No. 169.
MR. H. J. MACKINDER to MR. C. P. LUCAS.
The Drive, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, MY DEAR LUCAS,
August 10, 1907. MANY thanks for your letter of the 9th.* I have heard from Fisher, and have arranged to meet him in London at the beginning of September.
Yours, &c.,
H. J. MACKINDER.
28696
No. 166.
MR. H. J. MACKINDER to MR. C. P. LUCAS.
MY DEAR LUCAS,
[Answered by No. 168.]
The Drive, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire,
August 7, 1907. MANY thanks for your letter of the 1st August,* stating formally so far as it concerns myself, the result of our meeting on the 31st ultimo. I accept with very much pleasure the position which is offered to me in connection with the Princess of Wales's Fund.
I take it that this does not interfere with the arrangement already made with me in connection with the Eastern Colonies Fund for the issue of the Canadian, South African, and Composite (United Kingdom) editions of the lantern lectures on the United Kingdom.
Yours, &c.,
H. J. MACKINDER.
(No. 185.) (Extract.)
*
No. 170.
HONG KONG.
ACTING GOVERNOR MAY to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received August 12, 1907.)
*
*
Hong Kong, July 10, 1907.
*
*
Some difficulty attended the lectures inaugurated on the system of visual instruction. It was not found possible to use the lanterns in Queen's College owing to want of suitable accommodation, the large Hall being unavailable owing to the difficulty in darkening it.
The lectures have, however, so far been a success, and with the experience now gained an improvement in the arrangements may be possible in the next session.
*
سيا
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
C.O.
Reference -
+885
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
27875
No. 167.
THE COMMITTEE ON VISUAL INSTRUCTION to MR. A. H. FISHER. SIR,
Downing Street, August 8, 1907.
I AM directed by the Committee on Visual Instruction to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, in which you intimate your acceptance of the appointment of artist-photographer to the Committee on the conditions specified in Mr. Lucas's letter of the 1st instant.
You should at once place yourself in communication with Mr. Mackinder, to whom a copy of the correspondence is being forwarded.
Attached to 27529
No. 168.
I am, &c.,
JOHN HUNTER,
Secretary.
MR. C. P. LUCAS to MR. H. J. MACKINDER.
MY DEAR MACKINDER,
[Answered by No. 169.]
Airton by Leeds, August 9, 1907. THANK you for your letter of the 7th. § Yes; the arrangement with regard to the Princess of Wales's Fund is entirely exclusive of what we have arranged with regard to the lectures on the United Kingdom.
C. P. LUCAS.
Enclosure in No. 170.
EXTRACT from the REPORT of the INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR 1906.
*
Visual Instruction.
*
43. In the year 1905, the Government of Hong Kong on the initiative of the Home Government subscribed the large sum of $3,000 towards a scheme for promot- ing a better knowledge of the Mother Country among the schools of the Empire. With this sum 2 lanterns and sets of lantern slides have been purchased and supplied, and a course of interesting lectures to accompany them. These arrived in the Colony at the beginning of the year under review, and steps were at once taken to put them to the best use.
44. There was a considerable difficulty in arranging the lectures to the best advantage, owing to the great distances separating the schools. The Diocesan Home and Orphanage and the Victoria School are more than 3 miles apart as the crow flies, while the Kowloon School is 2 miles from either, with the harbour between. Moreover, the weather and the seasons put a limit to the time in which lectures can conveniently be given. The long days of summer call for artificial darkening of the lecture room, and that necessitates closed windows. To submit a closely packed roomful of children, at the end of their day's work, to such conditions, with the thermometer between 80 and 90 and the air full of acetylene gas, is clearly impossible. The authorities of the Italian Convent wrote, as early as the beginning of May, "Having to close all the doors and windows, the room became so hot that more than one girl felt giddy. I am afraid we cannot avail ourselves of it during this hot weather.
We cannot have the day scholars here when it is dark now, that is after 7 o'clock p.m." At the best, from the beginning of May to the end of September, the lanterns cannot be used.
45. Had it been otherwise desirable, it would, no doubt, have been convenient to bring the pupils of the different schools into some central place, such as the City
• No. 161.
↑ No. 165.
‡ No. 162.
§ No. 166.
22547
* No. 168.
I'