1873 — Page 196

No. 44.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

The following Annual Report on the state of the Government Schools in Hongkong for the Year 1873, is published for general information.

By Command, Бу

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 5th March, 1874.

No. 14.

J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary.

HONGKONG, 21st February, 1874.

SIR,-I have the honour to forward to you the Blue Book Returns and the Annual Report on Education for 1873.

2. With no increase in the number of Government Schools last year, there was a large increase of scholars. The number enrolled was greater by 358 than in 1872, while the expenditure on the whole of the schools was only $290 more than for the previous year.

3. The Village Schools, a naine which has been given to all the Government schools except the Central School, are 29 in number. Of these, 15 are supported solely by Government, and are under its complete control. The remaining 14 receive aid to the extent of $60 a year, the villagers undertaking to provide a school-house and to pay the half of the master's salary. These aided schools are subject to the usual inspection, and Government puts a veto on the appointment of a master, if he is not able to pass the required examination.

4. Such is the theory, but the practice does not quite accord with it. There is no room for doubt that, in most cases, the master has to pay the rent out of the small grant given to the school; and the moiety of his salary which the village undertakes to provide is as often unpaid as not. la many of the villages the people are extremely poor, and the master passes rich with his five dollars

■ month. On no other ground enn much of the reluctance of the people to contribute towards the education of their children be explained: but, as they cling strongly to what they consider their right to select a master, they are ready to promise whatever may be required of them; and then, when the school has been fairly started, and the master tires of paying the rent, the villagers plead poverty and request an additional allowance to provide a school-house.

5. Unsatisfactory as this state of things is, no immediate remedy can be applied, without in- curring greater expense than the results would justify. If the schools were removed entirely from local control, they would, except perhaps in the more populous villages, be very badly attended, and, in some cases, they might be entirely deserted; for the parents, who have had little or no education, do not see the necessity of it for their children, unless it can be had in a way which brings some present and direct advantage to themselves. On the principle, therefore, that it is better for the children to have some instruction than to have none, the schools should be maintained. By constant vigilance, improvements although necessarily slow cannot fail to be effected.

6. During the year, the number enrolled at these schools was 338, giving each an average of 24. The attendance is not very regular, the two harvests and other field work taking away the children for a considerable time. Towards the end of the year, too, the numbers rapidly decrease, for no reason that can be assigned except the fact that in these villages time is of very little account, and a month or two less at school in the course of the year is a marter of no importance. On the whole, however, there is considerable improvement on, the state of things three years ago.

7. In last Report, the schools at Yau-má Tí and Little Hongkong were mentioned as having given rise to much annoyance. After the Chinese New Year, on a promise being made of a change At Yau-má Ti, it was soon discovered for the better, the schools were continued as they were. that the master and a number of the people were doing their utmost to prevent the erection of the Police Station in the village. The school was then taken away from local control, and is now one of the Government schools properly so called. This change was made in June, when the numbers fell at once from 22 to 8; and, although they afterwards reached 17 in November, the opposition made to the change by the former inaster and his friends kept the school in a very unsatisfactory state up to the end of the year. The present master, however, has had many promises of scholars after the New Year holidays, and if these promises are kept the Yau-má Ti school will be very differently reported on next year.

8. A new master was appointed to the school at Little Hongkong in the month of March, and grant was continued, with the understanding that on the next complaint it would be permanently withdrawn. The villagers have, this time, got a man of a very different temper from that of the

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