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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O.885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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(2) The Secretary of State mentions two sources of difficulty which may arise in dealing with the holders of such scholarships, namely: unsatisfactory conduct on the part of the scholar, and the financial embarrassment in which he may involve himself while distant from his parents or guardians.
(3) The Board is not aware that either of these difficulties has arisen in the case of any Jamaica student holding scholarship in Great Britain. fact that such difficulties might arise at any time, and it has therefore carefully considered It recognises, however, the the remedies proposed by the Secretary of State.
(4) There are two classes of scholarships given here, which are tenable off the Island: the Jamaica Scholarship, and the £60 Scholarships created by Law 32 of 1892. The latter class are only tenable off the Island under certain clearly defined conditions, nade entirely to suit the convenience of the holders. They are intended primarily to be held in Jamaica, and their amount obviously renders them untenable elsewhere unless largely supplemented by private means. The responsibility for holding them abroad rests entirely with the parents or guardians of the scholar, and they do not, the Board considers, come within the scope of the despatch. The remarks of the Board are confined, therefore, to the Jamaica Scholarship.
(5) In the case of the misconduct of a scholar, the despatch suggests that a sliding scale of deductions should be brought into force, and it instances a regulation to that effect which has been adopted by the Government of the Straits Settlements.
The Board does not approve of this scheme, for it does not consider that the amount of the scholarship (£200 per annum) is more than sufficient for a student's legitimate expenses, and to make deductions would only involve him in that pecuniary embarrass- ment which the Secretary of State specially wishes to avoid. It considers that cases of really serious misconduct should be dealt with by the total withdrawal of the scholarship; while minor offences could be met by a threat of such withdrawal if they should, by persistent_repetition, become serious,
(6) In dealing with the financial aspect of the question, the despatch points out the exceptional position a Colonial student occupies in having to support himself during vacation; and it mentions the more liberal arrangements male by other Colonies, includ- ing in some cases an allowance for passage money. After careful consideration, the Board is of opinion that the financial position of a Jamaica scholar need not in ordinary cases be a difficult one. In cases of actual emergency there is every reason to believe that the college authorities (ut any rate at the residential Universities) will be willing to make such provisional arrangements as will give the student tirne to communicate with his friends. The Board believes that the Government and the Legislative Council in fixing the amount of the scholarship were not oblivious of the fact that the holder would have to meet his expenses during vacation time. It considers the amount sufficient, and does not think it would be advisable to ask the Legislative Council to increase it.
(7) It would, however, strengthen the scholar's position at a time when many calls are being made on his purse if an advance of £30 could be made to him, if required, for his passage money to England. This advance should be repayable, the Board considers, not during the scholar's first term, which would merely postpone the difficulty to an equally inconvenient time, but by reducing the amount of each annual payment from £200 to £190.
(8) With regard to the general effect of the Colonial scholarships tenable in the United Kingdom, as dealt with in paragraph 4 of the dospatch, the Board desires to state its opinion that the influence of the Jamaica Scholarship has been most beneficial, both to the holders and to the Colony. Most of the holders would have been absolutely unable to obtain a University education without it, and none of them could have done so with- out some aid of the kind.
All the scholars have proceeded satisfactorily to a degree, and many of them have returned to the Colony and are honourably filling positions which Jamaicans (unless they were sons of wealthy parents) could hardly have secured without its aid. À still more important and far-reaching result is the impulse given to higher education, as shown in the marked improvement which has taken place in the position of the more advanced schools of the island..
I have, &c.,
THOMAS CAPPER, Chairman of the Board of Education.
27360.
SIR,
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BRITISH GUIANA.
No. 7.
GOVERNOR SIR A. W. L. HEMMING to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Received December 23, 1897.)
(No. 371.)
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, December 4, 1897. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 185 of the 19th August last,* on the subject generally of the scholarships to the United Kingdom, granted by various Colonial Governments, and requesting an expression of my views
thereon.
(2) As any amendments in the existing regulations would have to be made by the Governor-in-Council, I consulted the Council on the receipt of your despatch, and the matter has since been fully discussed and carefully considered.
•
(3) As regards the proposal to adopt the practice of the Straits Settlements Govern- ment, whereby a reduction is made in the monthly allowance to the scholar if the quarterly certificate forwarded to the Crown Agents from the Principal of his College is not one of unqualified merit and industry, the weight of opinion in the Council was in favour of a provision whereby the entire forfeiture of the scholarship would be entailed if the certifi- cate proved to be unsatisfactory for three successive quarters.
(4) I am informed by the Principal of Queen's College in connection with the point dealt with in the 3rd paragraph of your despatch, that, so far as regards this Colony, in most instances the parents of the scholars have been able to assist their sons, and that a selection of Oxford or Cambridge has been rarely made unless such assistance was forth- coming. The majority of British Guiana scholars now proceed to London or Edinburgh, where the scholarship allowance alone, with ordinary economy, is sufficient to provide for all the needs of a scholar both in term time, and during vacation.
(5) I annex an extract from a memorandum which has recently been furnished to me by Mr. Potbury, in which he gives his views with regard to the beneficial effects of the scholarship scheme generally. In those yiews I concur for the most part, and there is no doubt in my mind that the institution of the scholarships has done a great deal for the furtherance of secondary education in this Colony,
(6) The opportunity has been taken of revising the scholarship regulations generally, the principal points dealt with being a change as regards the tenure of the scholarship, and the provision of an outfit allowance of £25.
The first alteration will abolish the distinction in favour of the medical profession, brought about by the Resolution of the Combined Court of the 23rd June, 1893, and has my entire concurrence.
(7) I have had the regulations recast so as to embrace the recommendations of the Council, and I transmit herewith a copy of the Regulations of 1891, and a reprint with the proposed amendments, which, for convenience of reference, have been underlined in red.† (8) These regulations will not come into force until I have learned that they meet with your approval.
I have, &c.,
AUGUSTUS W. L. HEMMING,
Enclosure I in No. 7.
EXTRACT FROM MEMORANDUM BY MR. POTBURY.
Governor.
With regard to the question of Colonial scholarships generally, I believe that their value to the various Colonies awarding them must, from an educational point of view, be considerable. Speaking for this Colony and for Queen's College, the effect of the Guiana Scholarship, as a stimulus to work, is most marked. The same influence is gradually per- meating all the Demerara schools, and is as perceptible among the girls as among the boys. This, I take it, is the real use and intention of the scholarship. The value to the individual scholar is quite a minor factor in the calculation, though in nearly every instance the personal benefit has also been very great. Nor need the possible value of any
No. 1.
† Shown by Italies.
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