27. The Village Schools supported by Government stand in the following order of efficiency:-
1. Stanley.
2. Sai-ying Pun (Pun-ti).
3. Girls' School.
4. Bowrington.
5. Sai-ying Pún (Hak-ka).
6. Tang-lung Chau (Pun-ti).
7. Webster's Crescent.
8. Aberdeen.
9. Tái Wong Kung.
10. West End.
11. Wong-nai Chung.
12. Shau-ki Wán.
13. Tang-lung Chau (Hak-ka).
28. Among these schools Stanley continues to hold the pre-eminence. If all the Village Schools were as it is, there would be much cause for congratulation. The master is a good scholar, a diligent and successful teacher, and he enjoys in a high degree the confidence of the villagers. The school-room is always neat and clean. The scholars are regular in their attendance and orderly in their behaviour. A new school-house is much wanted here. The locality of the present one is unhealthy; and to this must be attributed one or two serious attacks of illness from which the master suffered last year.
The whole village is said to be unhealthy and the death-rate high, especially at some seasons of the year. A new school-house on one of the knolls adjacent to the village should, if well drained and properly ventilated, be much more healthy than the present one.
29. The new school at Tái Wong Kung in Wán-tsai has been very successful; but, from the fact of its being new, it is too soon to speak confidently about it. It has withdrawn a few of the scholars from Bowrington and a great many from the Hak-ka school at Tang-lung Chau. The wanderers will no doubt find their way back to their old schools by and by; and, if they do not, no harm is done, as long as they are taught at all. If the children could but be got to attend any school, the particular school of their choice would be a matter of very minor importance.
30. The Village Schools receiving grants-in-aid are 11 in number. Their relative efficiency stands thus:-
1. Ap-li Chau.
2. To-kwa Wán, (Hak-ka).
3. Yau-ma Ti.
4. Ma-t'au Ts'iin.
5. Ma-tau Chung.
6. Little Hongkong.
7. To-kwa Wán, (Hok-lo).
8. Hok Ün.
9. Mong Kok.
10. Hung Hom.
11. Pok-fú Lam.
31. The school at Pok-fú Lam was added in the course of the year, and the grant was withdrawn from Shek Shán, where the people refused to change the master, although he stood convicted of repeated instances of neglect and disobedience. He is a very cunning old man, and holds some mysterious sway, I suspect of a fortune-telling nature, over the ignorant villagers.
32. A grant was applied for to the school at Tái-kok Tsui, where the new Dock is to be, but the master, on examination, was found to be quite unfit for his duties. The villagers were requested to select another, but they declined. If they could not have the grant with the present master, they would take him without it. They have since thought better of it, and the school is likely to receive the grant this year.
33. The villagers of Little Hongkong have again been distinguishing themselves in their own peculiar way. In 1870, they tried to make the master out a thief, in order that the Ti-po's son, an ignorant youngster, might be installed as his successor. Last year, they brought a charge of a most disgraceful nature against the present master, no doubt with the same object. The matter was fully investigated at the Police Court and the lying witnesses fined. I wish it had been in the power of the Magistrate to add a flogging as well. The charge was utterly baseless; and what the state of morality in the village is, may be judged from the fact that the people, knowing well that it was baseless, yet incited five little boys to stick to a story which one of them had concocted in revenge for a sound flogging which the master had given him for fighting. It was very melancholy to listen to the tissue of falsehoods and contradictions of which the boys were guilty in the witness-box. Our mode of inflicting punishment fails sadly to meet such cases. A heavy fine on the whole village and the imprisonment of the Ti-po, however foreign to what is called Constitutional Government, would have been a punishment salutary for the present, and deterrent for the future. The villagers are simply children in civilization; and punishment, after English ideas, is to them little or no punishment at all. There is neither conscience nor a healthy public opinion to appeal to, and where these are wanting ordinary punishments fall very lightly.
34. The boys, with one exception, deserted the school, and the parents asked for the removal of the master. It was useless to ask them why this should be done, after his innocence had been clearly established. They had suffered a defeat in one quarter, and they thought to make up for it in another. For two months, they held out; and then the more sensible of them, seeing that the determination to maintain the master in his place, scholars or no scholars, was not going to be departed from, began to think of sending their children back. The Ti-po exerted himself strenuously to prevent this; but, when he was told that if the boys were not all back in school by a certain day he would have to answer for his conduct before a Magistrate, he discontinued his opposition and the boys all returned.
35. So much for what has been done. Table VI points to a large field still uncultivated. The number of children in the Colony who get no education is roughly estimated at 11,000. What can be done for these it is very hard to say. If schools were already built to accommodate the whole of them, a very small percentage would attend them. Disinclination is one great drawback; poverty is perhaps a greater. Compulsory education would uproot the evil; but is compulsory education possible here? I confess myself unable to give an answer. One thing is quite certain, that if these eleven thousand children were compelled to go to school, food and clothing would have to be supplied to them. In many cases, lodging would have to be provided for them also. A large proportion of the children live in boats, which are here to-day and somewhere else to-morrow.
About one half of them, too, are girls, for whom education is considered not a superfluity merely, but a mistake.
36. The first question, therefore, which calls for an answer is not-Shall we have compulsory education? but-How are these two enemies of education, poverty and prejudice, to be overcome? When that has been satisfactorily answered, the rest is easy; but, until that has been so answered, it is hopeless to attempt to educate. That our criminal classes are largely recruited from the ranks of the ignorant and idle is beyond a doubt. The boat boys on the Praya commence their career with pricking rice bags, follow that up with picking pockets, and end their days as pirates. The desirability of education is but too evident; but how it is to be accomplished is a difficulty which still remains.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Inspector of Government Schools.
TABLE I.
NUMBER OF SCHOLARS taught in the Government Schools during 1871, and Expense of each School.
School Boys Girls Total Expense ... ... ... ... $ c. Central School 367 0 367 10,719.82 Girls' School 0 57 57 593.00 ... ... ... ... ... Tai Wong Kung 32 2 34 120.50 Tang-lung Chau (Hak-ka) 17 0 17 1.50 Tang-lung Chau (Pun-ti) 43 0 43 24.00 To-kwa Wán (Hak-ka) 58 0 58 264.00 To-kwa Wán (Hok-lo) 14 0 14 123.00 ... ... ... ... ... Total 1,201 91 1,292 14,715.8227. The Village Schools supported by Government stand in the following order of efficiency:-
1. Stanley.
2. Sai-ying Pan (Pun-ti.)
3. Girls' School.
4. Bowrington.
5. Sai-ying Pún (Hak-ka.)
6. Tang-lung Chau (Pún-ti.)
7. Webster's Crescent.
8. Aberdeen.
9. Tải Wong Kung.
10. West End.
11. Wong-nai Chung,
12. Cháu hi Wán.
13. Tang-lung Chau (Hak-ku.)
28. Among these schools Stanley continues to hold the pre-eminence. If all the Village Schools were as it is, there would be much cause for congratulation. The master is a good scholar, a diligent and successful teacher, and he enjoys in a high degree the confidence of the villagers. The school- room is always neat and clean. The scholars are regular in their attendance and orderly in their behaviour. Á new school-house is much wanted here. The locality of the present one is unhealthy; and to this must be attributed one or two serious attacks of illness from which the master suffered last year.
The whole village is said to be unhealthy and the death-rate high, especially at some seasons of the year. A new school-house on one of the knolls adjacent to the village should, if well drained and properly ventilated, be much more healthy than the present one.
29. The new school at Tái Wong Kung in Wán-tsai has been very successful; but, from the fact of its being new, it is too soon to speak confidently about it. It has withdrawn a few of the scholars from Bowrington and a great many from the Hak-ka school at Tang-lung Chan. The wanderers will no doubt find their way back to their old schools by and by; and, if they do not, no harm is done, as long as they are taught at all. If the children could but be got to attend any school, the particular school of their choice would be a matter of very minor importance.
30. The Village Schools receiving grants-in-aid are 11 in number. Their relative efficiency stands thus:-→
1. Apli Chau.
5. Matau Chung
2. To-kwa Wán, (Hak-ka.) | 6. Little Hongkong.
3. Yau-ma Ti.
4. Ma-t'au Ts'iin.
9. Mong Kok. 10. Hung Hom.
7. T'o-kwa Wán, (IIok-lo.) | 11. Pok-fá Lam. 8. Hok Ün.
31. The school at Pok-fú Lam was added in the course of the year, and the grant was with- drawn from Shek Shán, where the people refused to change the master, although he stood convicted of repeated instances of neglect and disobedience. He is a very cunning old man, and holds some mysterious sway, I suspect of a fortune-telling nature, over the ignorant villagers.
32. A grant was applied for to the school at Tái-kok Tsui, where the new Dock is to be, but the master, on examination, was found to be quite unfit for his duties. The villagers were requested to select another, but they declined. If they could not have the grant with the present master, they would take him without it. They have since thought better of it, and the school is likely to receive the grant this year.
power
138 35. So much for what has been done. Table VI points to a large field still uncultivated. The number of children in the Colony who get no education is roughly estimated at 11,000. What can be done for these it is very hard to say. If schools were already built to accommodate the whole of them, a very small percentage would attend them. Disinclination is one great drawback; poverty is perhaps a greater. Compulsory education would uproot the evil; but is compulsory education possible here? I confess myself unable to give an answer. One thing is quite certain, that if these eleven thousand children were compelled to go to school, food and clothing would have to be sup plied to them. In many cases, lodging would have to be provided for them also. A large propor- tion of the children live in boats, which are here to-day and somewhere else to-morrow.
About one half of them, too, are girls, for whom education is considered not a superfluity merely, but a mistake. 36. The first question, therefore, which calls for an answer is not-Shall we have compulsory education? but-How are these two enemies of education, poverty and prejudice, to be overcome? When that has been satisfactorily answered, the rest is easy; but, until that has been so answered, it is hopeless to attempt to educate. That our criminal classes are largely recruited from the ranks of the ignorant and idle is beyond a doubt. The boat boys on the Praya commence their career with pricking rice bags, follow that up with picking pockets, and end their days as pirates. The desirability of education is but too evident; but how it is to be accomplished is a difficulty which still remains.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
The Honourable J. GARDINER AUSTIN,
Colonial Secretary,
fo.,
fe.
1. Aberdeen,
of
2. Ap-li Chau,
3. Bowringtou,
4. Central School,
5. Girls' School,...
33. The villagers of Little Hongkong have again been distinguishing themselves in their own peculiar way. In 1870, they tried to make the master out a thief, in order that the Ti-po's son, an ignorant youngster, might be installed as his successor. Last year, they brought a charge of a most disgraceful nature against the present master, no doubt with the same object. The matter was fully investigated at the Police Court and the lying witnesses fined. I wish it had been in the the Magistrate to add a flogging as well. The charge was utterly baseless; and what the state of morality in the village is, may be judged from the fact that the people, knowing well that it was baseless, yet incited five little boys to stick to a story which one of them had concocted in revenge for a sound flogging which the master had given him for fighting. It was very melancholy to listen to the tissue of falsehoods and contradictions of which the boys were guilty in the witness-box. Our mode of inflicting punishment fails sadly to meet such cases. A heavy fine on the whole village and the imprisonment of the Ti-po, however foreign to what is called Constitutional Government, would have been a punishment salutary for the present, and deterrent for the future. The villagers are simply children in civilization; and punishment, after English ideas, is to them little or no punish- ment at all. There is neither conscience nor a healthy public opinion to appeal to, and where these are wanting ordinary punishments fall very lightly.
34. The boys, with one exception, deserted the school, and the parents asked for the removal of the master. It was useless to ask them why this should be done, after his innocence had been clearly established. They had suffered a defeat in one quarter, and they thought to make up for it in another. For two months, they held out; and then the more sensible of them, seeing that the determination to maintain the master in his place, scholars or no scholars, was not going to be de- parted from, began to think of sending their children back. The Ti-po exerted himself strenuously to prevent this; but, when he was told that if the boys were not all back in school by a certain day he would have to answer for his conduct before a Magistrate, he discontinued his opposition and the boys all returned.
6. Hok Un,.
7. Hung Hom,
8. Little Hongkong,
9. Ma-t'au Ch'nug,
10. Ma-t'au Ts'iin,
11. Mong Kok,
12. Pok-fú Lam,
13. Shấu-ki Wắn,
14. Shek Shán,
15. Stanley,
Your most obedient Servant,
25
888-88as;
FREDERICK STEWART, Inspector of Government Schools,
TABLE I.
NUMBER OF SCHOLARS taught in the Government Schools during 1871, and Expense of each School.
Bors.
GIRLS.
TOTAL.
EXPENSE.
$ c.
26
124.00
52
65,00
75
374.00
367
367
10,719.82
57
593.00
16
61.50
10
62.00
25
63.00
17
63 00
54
66.00
22
62.00
12
40.00
32
34
120.50
17
17
1.50
43
43
$24.00
58
58
264.00
14
14
123.00
33
33
148.00
28
29
63.00
19
20
80.50
35
37
354.00
32
33
256.00
62
62
251.00
74
77
251,00
22
22
123.00
74
75
63,00
1,201
91
1,292
14,715.82
16. Tai Wong Kung,
17. Tang-lung Chau, (Hak-ka),
18. Tung-lung Chan, (Pun-ti),
19. To-kwa Wán, (Hak-ka),
20. To-kwa Wán, (Hok-lo), 21. Webster's Crescent,
22. West End,
23. West Point, (Hak-ka), 24. West Point, (Pun-ti), 25. Wong-nai Cli'ung,. 26. Yau-ma Ti,
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