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2. ALL CIVIL SERVANTS REQUIRED TO STUDY CHINESE. 1855.
It so happened in the very next year (1855) that Mr. CALDWELL also resigned, though but temporarily, and forthwith the complaints regarding the want of competent interpretation became extremely loud and gave rise to new schemes to supply the deficiency. Sir GEORGE GREY, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, considered the subject of such importance that he laid down the rule that no application for an increase of salary in the Civil Service of Hongkong was to be made for any person who did not know Chinese. It happened in this wise. Sir JOHN BOWRING applied for an augmentation of the salary of a General Interpreter. In reply to this application, Sir GEORGE GREY (Despatch No. 8 of 28th April 1855) writes as follows:--
'Independently of other reasons, sufficient in themselves to compel me to refuse the sanction of Her Majesty's Government to the desired augmentation of Mr. .......'s salary, the inability of that gentleman to translate the Chinese language freely renders it impossible for me to comply with his request, this being a qualification which ought to be regarded as indispensable for an Interpreter. "But I consider, the knowledge of this language as essential generally for the Civil Service at Hong-kong, and have to lay it down for your guidance as a rule, subject only to such very special exceptions as you may deem necessary, that no application for increase of salary in that service is to be made for any person who has not learnt Chinese."
In the Hongkong Government Gazette of 7th July 1855, there appeared accordingly a Notification stating that Her Majesty's Government attached great importance to the acquirement of the Chinese language by all functionaries in the public service in this Colony, and adding that "His Excellency is instructed to state that in claims for promotion a knowledge of Chinese will be considered as a recommendation to the favourable consideration of the Authorities." Here we have then another important point to note, viz., that, apart from interpretation in the Courts and departmental offices, it is highly desirable that in a Colony like this, where more than 95 per cent. of the people speak Chinese and Chinese only, all the functionaries in the public service in the Colony should learn Chinese, at least until the Chinese population of Hongkong can be made to learn English.
3. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CAINE AND SIR JOHN BOWRING. NEW SCHEMES. 1855.
But as, of course, this scheme of inducing all European officers to learn Chinese would, even if successful, not affect the Interpretation in the Courts, further measures had to be devised. Accordingly, Lieutenant Governor Caine (Despatch No. 86 of 18th June 1855), whose long residence in Hongkong (since 1841) and varied experience lend weight to his views, urged upon the attention of the Home Government "the necessity of establishing a Corps of Interpreters," without, however, explaining how the Corps was to be established. His idea seems to have been the same as that which has since then repeatedly forced itself into prominence, viz., to establish a separate Interpretation Department. Nothing was done, however, in that direction, as Sir JOHN BOWRING, during whose absence in Siam Colonel Caine had taken up the Interpretation question, started, immediately upon his return to Hongkong within three days after Colonel Caine's Despatch was written, a different scheme. Sir JOHN BOWRING suggested (Despatch No. 91 of 21st June 1855) that St. Paul's College be utilized for the purpose of training Interpreters for the use of the Government, and that, with that end in view, "a Colonial grant for the education of Interpreters be substituted for the Parliamentary vote of £250 hitherto paid to St. Paul's College." This led to a lengthy correspondence, ending in the decision that St. Paul's College should not be interfered with, but Colonel Caine's plan was forgotten meanwhile, and nothing was actually done towards a solution of the Interpretation problem until the arrival of Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, four years later (September, 1859).
4. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON. 1859-1865.
(a.) Teachers' Allowances and Cadetship Scheme.
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON took up the interpretation question at once. He looked about for educated Chinese Interpreters, established several new Interpreterships in the Courts and in different Departments, appointed a number of Chinese as Interpreters, and obtained the sanction of the Secretary of State, the Duke of NEWCASTLE, to the appointment of Mr. now the Honourable NG ACHOY "as Clerk and Student Interpreter" (Secretary of State's Despatch No. 3 of 2nd January 1862). Sir HERCULES ROBINSON also allowed payment of a Chinese teacher's salary to every European officer who was willing to learn Chinese. He had been informed by the Secretary of State (Despatch No. 98 of 2nd November 1860) that "Her Majesty's Government would be ready to consider favourably any proposal he might make on the subject of improving the system of interpretation in the Colony, although involving some outlay of public funds." Meanwhile Mr. CALDWELL'S resignation increased the inconvenience generally felt from the want of competent and experienced Interpreters. Mr. CALDWELL had some years before been confirmed (Despatch No. 32 of 18th March 1857) by the Secretary of State in the important appointment of "Registrar General and Protector of Chinese," had entered into questionable relations with certain designing and unscrupulous characters, who most likely made a tool of him, and he resigned on 1st February 1861, whilst the investigation into his conduct, which led to his subsequent dismissal, was still going on. The resignation of Mr. CALDWELL, who, though imperfectly acquainted with the written Chinese language, was then the only satisfactory Interpreter in the Colony, brought matters to a climax. Sir HERCULES ROBINSON now prepared his well-known Scheme of Cadetships "to supply the Civil Service in Hongkong with an efficient staff of Interpreters."
In recommending this Scheme to the Secretary of State (the Duke of NEWCASTLE), Sir HERCULES ROBINSON (Despatch No. 39 of 23rd March 1861) explains that great inconvenience is felt from the scarcity of trustworthy Interpreters to communicate with the bulk of the population, that no Government officer in Hongkong understands Chinese except the Interpreters, and that the latter "are either Chinese or Portuguese, persons of no position, and who have neither education nor sufficient knowledge of the English language to qualify them for their important and most responsible duties." Sir HERCULES ROBINSON further states, that to abate this evil he determined at first to allow each officer a Chinese teacher, but finds now that little good can be effected by the measure, and that he therefore prepared a scheme for Cadetships differing from the Foreign Office scheme in but two points, viz., that the study of Chinese shall not commence until after the arrival of the Cadet in China, and that the Cadetships be not confined to King's College, London, but competed for by students of three or more colleges.
(b.) Defects of the Cadetship Scheme of 1861.
Without going into a detailed description of this Cadetship Scheme, a copy of which I append, I venture to offer a few criticisms of its salient practical features. The first objection I would raise to Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme refers to the misleading analogy between the Consular Service and the Hongkong Civil Service, on which he had been advised to base his interpretation scheme. A Consular Student Interpreter has but one fixed local dialect to acquire, the dialect of Pekin City, which is spoken or supposed to be spoken by all Mandarins in every part of the Empire. And as regards the written language also, he is required to study but one fixed style, the official documentary style. A Hongkong Interpreter, knowing but one local dialect, could practically do next to nothing. Even that one dialect principally spoken here, Cantonese, is in our Courts scarcely ever heard in its purity but almost invariably in a form representing an intermixture of different local variations of Cantonese (Tung-kún, San-ning, San-úi, &c.) with Hakka and Hoklo dialects, all widely varying from each other. And as to documentary translation, the documents which have to be translated for use of our Courts or for the purposes of the various Departments and especially the Survey Department, or for the purposes of the Executive and the Government Gazette, comprise such a variety of different styles of the Chinese language, that any comparison with the requirements of Consular Interpretation becomes absolutely misleading. It was this false analogy which subsequently led even Sir THOMAS WADE, after examining the first few Cadets, ten months after their arrival in Hongkong, to express his surprise at their seeming backwardness and to advise, in opposition to Dr. LEGGE'S counsels, their discontinuing the study of the classical style (see Governor's Despatch No. 146 of 8th August 1863 and enclosure).
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON'S scheme starts, accordingly, with a radical error, in requiring the holders of these Cadetships to devote themselves only "for a certain time" after their arrival in the Colony to
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Dec.
218
'
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2. ALL CIVIL SERVANTS REQUIRED TO STUDY CHINESE. 1855.
It so happened in the very next year (1855) that Mr. CALDWELL also resigned, though but temporarily, and forthwith the complaints regarding the want of competent interpretation became extremely loud and gave rise to new schemes to supply the deficiency. Sir GEORGE GREY, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, considered the subject of such importance that he laid down the rule that no application for an increase of salary in the Civil Service of Hongkong was to be made for any person who did not know Chinese. It happened in this wise. Sir JOHN BOWRING applied for an augmentation of the salary of a General Interpreter. In reply to this application, Sir GEORGE GREY (Despatch No. 8 of 28th April 1855) writes as follows :--
'Independently of other reasons, sufficient in themselves to compel me to refuse the sanction of Her Majesty's Government to the desired augmentation of Mr. . . . . . . 's salary, the inability of "that gentleman to translate the Chinese language freely renders it impossible for me to comply with "his
request, this being a qualification which ought to be regarded as indispensable for an Interpreter. "But I consider, the knowledge of this language as essential generally for the Civil Service at Hong- "kong, and have to lay it down for your guidance as a rule, subject only to such very special excep- "tions as you may deem necessary, that no application for increase of salary in that service is to be "made for any person who has not learnt Chinese."
In the Hongkong Government Gazette of 7th July 1855, there appeared accordingly a Notification stating that Her Majesty's Government attached great importance to the acquirement of the Chinese language by all functionaries in the public service in this Colony, and adding that "Ilis Excellency is instructed to state that in claims for promotion a knowledge of Chinese will be considered as a recommendation to the favourable consideration of the Authorities." Here we have then another important point to note, viz., that, apart from interpretation in the Courts and departmental offices, it is highly desirable that in a Colony like this, where more than 95 per cent. of the people speak Chinese and Chinese only, all the functionaries in the public service in the Colony should learn Chinese, at least until the Chinese population of Hongkong can be made to learn English.
3. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CAINE AND SIR JOHN BOWRING. NEW SCHEMES. 1855.
But as, of course, this scheme of inducing all European officers to learn Chinese would, even if successful, not affect the Interpretation in the Courts, further measures had to be devised. Accordingly, Lieutenant Governor Caine (Despatch No. 86 of 18th June 1855), whose long residence in Hongkong (since 1841) and varied experience lend weight to his views, urged upon the attention of the Home Government "the necessity of establishing a Corps of Interpreters," without, however, explaining how the Corps was to be established. His idea seems to have been the same as that which has since then repeatedly forced itself into prominence, viz., to establish a separate Interpretation Department. Nothing was done, however, in that direction, as Sir JOHN BOWRING, during whose absence in Siam Colonel Caine had taken up the Interpretation question, started, immediately upon his return to Hongkong within three days after Colonel Caine's Despatch was written, a different scheme. Sir JOHN BOWRING suggested (Despatch No. 91 of 21st June 1855) that St. Paul's College be utilized for the purpose of training Interpreters for the use of the Government, and that, with that end in view, "a Colonial grant for the education of Interpreters be substituted for the Parliamentary vote of £250 hitherto paid to St. Paul's College." This led to a lengthy correspondence, ending in the decision that St. Paul's College should not be interfered with, but Colonel Caine's plan was forgotten meanwhile, and nothing was actually done towards a solution of the Interpretation problem until the arrival of Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, four years later (September, 1859).
4. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON. 1859-1865.
(a.) Teachers' Allowances and Cadetship Scheme.
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON took up the interpretation question at once. He looked about for educated Chinese Interpreters, established several new Interpreterships in the Courts and in different Departments, appointed a number of Chinese as Interpreters, and obtained the sanction of the Secretary
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of State, the Duke of NEWCASTLE, to the appointment of Mr. now the Honourable NG ACHOY "as Clerk and Student Interpreter" (Secretary of State's Despatch No. 3 of 2nd January 1862). Sir HERCULES ROBINSON also allowed payment of a Chinese teacher's salary to every European officer who was willing to learn Chinese. He had been informed by the Secretary of State (Despatch No. 98 of 2nd November 1860) that "Her Majesty's Government would be ready to consider favourably any proposal he might make on the subject of improving the system of interpretation in the Colony, although involving some outlay of public funds." Meanwhile Mr. CALDWELL'S resignation increased the inconvenience generally felt from the want of competent and experienced Interpreters. Mr. CALDWELL had some years before been confirmed (Despatch No. 32 of 18th March 1857) by the Secretary of State in the important appointment of "Registrar General and Protector of Chinese," had entered into questionable relations with certain designing and unscrupulous characters, who most likely made a tool of him, and he resigned on 1st February 1861, whilst the investigation into his conduct, which led to his subsequent dismissal, was still going on. The resignation of Mr. CALDWELL; who, though imperfectly acquainted with the written Chinese language, was then the only satisfactory Interpreter in the Colony, brought matters to a climax. Sir HERCULES ROBINSON now prepared his well-known scheme of Hongkong Fuelure D., Cadetship Cadetships "to supply the Civil Service in Hongkong with an efficient staff of Interpreters."
Scheme of
In recommending this Scheme to the Secretary of State (the Duke of NEWCASTLE), Sir HERCULES ROBINSON (Despatch No. 39 of 23rd March 1861) explains that great inconvenience is felt from the scarcity of trustworthy Interpreters to communicate with the bulk of the population, that no Govern- ment officer in Hongkong understands Chinese except the Interpreters, and that the latter “are either Chinese or Portuguese, persons of no position, and who have neither education nor sufficient know- ledge of the English language to qualify them for their important and most responsible duties." Sir HERCULES ROBINSON further states, that to abate this evil he determined at first to allow each officer a Chinese teacher, but finds now that little good can be effected by the measure, and that he therefore prepared a scheme for Cadetships differing from the Foreign Office scheme in but two points, viz., that the study of Chinese shall not commence until after the arrival of the Cadet in China, and that the Cadetships be not confined to King's College, London, but competed for by students of three or more colleges.
(b.) Defects of the Cadetship Scheme of 1861.
Without going into a detailed description of this Cadetship Scheme, a copy of which I append, I venture to offer a few criticisms of its salient practical features. The first objection I would raise to Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme refers to the misleading analogy between the Consular Service and the Hongkong Civil Service, on which he had been advised to base his interpretation scheme. A Consular Student Interpreter has but one fixed local dialect to acquire, the dialect of Pekin City, which is spoken or supposed to be spoken by all Mandarins in every part of the Empire. And as regards the written language also, he is required to study but one fixed style, the official documentary style. A Hongkong Interpreter, knowing but one local dialect, could practically do next to nothing. Even that one dialect principally spoken bere, Cantonese, is in our Courts scarcely ever heard in its purity but almost invariably in a form representing an intermixture of different local variations of Cantonese (Tung-kún, San-ning, San-úi, &c.) with Hakka and Hoklo dialects, all widely varying from each other. And as to documentary translation, the documents which have to be translated for use of our Courts or for the purposes of the various Departments and especially the Survey Department, or for the purposes of the Executive and the Government Gazette, comprise such a variety of different styles of the Chinese language, that any comparison with the requirements of Consular Interpretation becomes absolutely misleading. It was this false analogy which subsequently led even Sir THOMAS WADE, after examining the first few Cadets, ten months after their arrival in Hongkong, to express his sur- prise at their seeming backwardness and to advise, in opposition to Dr. LEGGE'S counsels, their dis- continuing the study of the classical style (sec Governor's Despatch No. 146 of 8th August 1863 and enclosure).
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON'S scheme starts, accordingly, with a radical error, in requiring the holders of these Cadetships to devote themselves only "for a certain time" after their arrival in the Colony to
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