1876 — Page 202

7. There is little to be said of these schools individually. Aberdeen alone calls for any cominent. In the beginning of the year it was almost extinct, the attendance having dwindled to four. This con- tinued till the month of June, at the end of which it was seriously intended to shut up the school. It so happened, however, that Mr. MATHIESON of the Police Force was then in charge of the Aberdeen Station, and seeing so many children doing nothing except getting into mischief, he remonstrated with their parents, and the consequence was that the numbers rose from 4 to 20. As a final effort towards utilizing the school, an evening class was opened in the month of July for the benefit of the Chinese police and the workmen at the Aberdeen Docks. This gave promise of being a very fortunate step. There were more applicants for adinission than the schoolroom could accommodate, and considerable disappointment was occasioned thereby. The class at first numbered 34, and continued at nearly the same point for some months; but on account of the constant shifting from place to place of, the scholars, and also on account of one of those outbreaks of fever from..which; the village: hardly ever escapes in autumn, the numbers declined rapidly during the last months of the year. There is reason to believe, moreover, that, the master is far from blameless for the falling off, but how to find a better man is very difficult problem. Taking the year as a whole, the results were not altogether unsatisfactory. The average monthly enrolment of the day and niglit schools together was 25, and the average daily attendance for the year was 17. Nevertheless, it is evident that the Aberdeen school has not yet overcome its difficulties; and its future history is altogether uncertain.

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8. The Grant-in-Aid Scheme has now had a three years trial, and the result is upon the whole satisfactory. With one exception; both managers and masters have expressed their satisfaction with the scheme itself and with the working of it. St. Paul's College School, St. Stephen's Church. School at Sai Ying-p'ún, and the Victoria Girls' School were added to the list during the last year. St. Saviour's Day School was withdrawn. This makes the present number. of those schools cleven, aml there are fresh applications for the current year.

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9. Experience has shown the necessity of one or two.modifications. of the original scheme. It is now evident that the values of the passes should be raised, and a proposal, to, that, offect will soon be offered for approval. It will also be proposed.to pay for attendance. Regularity is in itself a very valuable result, calling for much attention from all connected with a school, and being only attainable after considerable exertion. A payment, therefore, of so much per head on the average attendance will be included among the recommendations that are to be made. This, it is to be hoped, will satisfy the conductors of St. Saviour's Day School, now St. Joseph's English School, and induce them to re- consider their decision of declining to receive aid on the present conditions. On another point which presents an obstacle there may be some difficulty. It is objected to the present scheme that 200 daily attendances of 4 hours each in a year, is an excessive requirement, and that so much is not required elsewhere. It will of course rest with the Executive to say how far, if at all, it is desirable to make a retrogression in this direction, but a recommendation to that effect is not likely to be made. In agricultural and other districts where the services of the children are indispensable at certain seasons, it is only proper that duc allowance should be made; but here, in the city of Victoria, there is nothing but sickness which can possibly interfere with a scholar's attendance. At present 113 days, exclusive of Sundays, are allowed for holidays and other causes of absence; and if that margin is not ample enough for all contingencies, it is difficult to see how we can stop short of allowing work to yield to play. On no other ground will any objection be offered, but firinness on this point seems to mean the difference between efficiency and inefficiency; between a school where education is considered a diffi culty to be strenuously grappled with, and a school where ouly a certain routine of duty is considered

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10. A slight change was inade last year in two of the standards for schools in Class I, that is, schools in which a Chinese education is given. These standards were too low, as was evident from the numbers that were presented for examination under them. The managers were satisfied with the change, but the masters, at first, did not accept of it without soine demur. They ultimately admitted, on being pressed, that the change was all in favour of efficiency.

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11. There is one subject which demands the strictest attention of managers. There is a tendency on the part of some of the masters to push on their scholars too quickly to the higher standards, probably, (shall it be said?), for the greater pecuniary advantage which they offer. This was seen very conspicuously at St. Stephen's Church School and the London Mission School in T'ái-ping Shán, and very disastrously at the London Mission School in Wán-tsai. Managers will find it necessary the character of their schools to give their personal attention to this matter, and not allow the examing tion schedule to be forwarded until they have satisfied themselves that the scholars are entered in standards suited to their attainments and to their stay at school. It will no doubt happen that a clever boy can, with advantage to himself and to the school, be allowed to skip a standard occasionally; but, if this were the rule and not the exception, it would follow that the present standards are too low. That they are not so is admitted, and that being the case, the patient passing from standard to standard in successive years will be found to be the safest for the school and the wisest for the scholar. This is a subject which cannot be too earnestly commended to the consideration of managers. It was only last

year that the tendency was observed, and it is probably due, in some measure, to the introduction of the changes already referred to.