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the Committee had to observe that during the past year special causes had operated to retard the increase in the attendance of scholars and that in ordinary years the nun- her of pupils might be expected to amount to upwards of 1,000 boys.
Besides the free Government Schools appearing in the Report there were several private schools for Chinese.
St. Paul's College was distinguished for the Chinese and English teaching imparting to Chinese according to the principles of the Anglican Church. From it care the best instructed Chinese, who hold at present the highest position among their countrymen.
The European schools were all private, directed by Protestant teachers,
Among the Protestant European schools the most dis- tinguished was St Andrew's school, which was situated just where the Union-Church now stands. It was conducted by Mr. Kemp, who afterwards became the Editor of the Evening Mail.
The Catholics had no free schools for European children. There was a Chinese school with 8 Catholic pupils and an Orphanage for Chinese girls at L'Asyle de la St. Enfance, which was at that time the only Catholic Charitable Establishment in the Colony.
SECOND PERIOD.
From 1860 to 1863.
In the Government Gazette of the 21st January 1860, we find that His Excellency the Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson) had been pleased to appoint the following Gen- tlemon to bo a Board of Education for the management of the Government Schools throughout the Colony.
The Right Reverend the Bishop of Victoria, Chairman:
W. T. Bridges D. C. J.
The Reverend J. J. Irwin.
The Reverend W. Beach.
The Reverend Dr. Legge.
J. J. Mackenzie, Esq.
W. C. F. Robinson, Esq.
And on the 5th April of the same year we find the Report and Return of the Board of Education for the year 1859, in which we read that during the year 1859 nineteen school were in the city of Victoria and in the principal Villages of the Island.
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The greatest number of attendants at each school for- med an aggregate of 878 boys and 64 girls. The average attendance of every day throughout the year was 719.
The total expenditure of the year was to £1,260, 18, 61, in which san were included the stipend of the Inspector of schools, £800, and soine smaller sums for his travelling allowance and Chinese Writer, and some disbursements on account of English and Chinese school books.
A few months after, the Rev. Mr. Lobschied resigned his situation of Inspector of Government Schools, and in the month of September the Board of Education submit- ted to his Excellency the Governor a new system of ma- nagement prepared by the Rev. Dr Legge, who, after a short introduction, says:--
"
The appointment of an European Inspector was a great improvement on the system by which the Schools wore previously conducted, and we owe very much to Mr. Lobschied for the increased efficiency of the old schools under his management, and for the establishment of many new ones. Having been resident in the Colony (with the exception of temporary absence) since 1818, I live re joiced to witness how attention to the important business of Education has grown, in some proportionable degree, with its general growth and prosperity.
"But great results cannot be realized under the present systein. There are about twenty schools distributed over the Island. The pupils are mostly children of the poor, whose attendance is irregular, and cannot be calculated upon for a series of years. The teachers are in general men of no particular qualifications for their work. The teachers of English are young men whose own knowledge of our language is only rudimentary. The Inspector does not himself teach, but his business is to see that the teachers do their duty, and to assist them by his counsel. We cannot expect that he will spend more than two or three hours in each school in the course of
every mouth." "The plan which I would recommend instead of this is the following :--"
« Fira,--That there be erected a building in Victoria, in which the schools now ruaintained in Tac-ping-shan, the upper and Central Bazaars, Webster's Crescent, and near the Mosque, shall be concentrated in different rooms.
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