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learning the Chinese language. This error was, no doubt, further enhanced by a fundamental misconception of the difficulty and peculiar nature of the Chinese language, and by an oversight of the patent fact that but few can possibly master in Hongkong both the complex colloquial variations of dialect required in practical interpretation in the Hongkong Courts and the intricacy of the various styles of the written language required for documentary translation work. These two branches of interpretation work ought to have been kept distinctly in view and separately provided for. This was not done, and accordingly Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme assumed that a Cadet after two years' study might be competent to act as Interpreter, which is an impossibility.
The most serious objection I have to the Scheme lies in the provision it made that a Cadet after two years' approved service as Interpreter—a stipulation which of course none of the Cadets practically complied with—should receive an increase of salary, and "after three years' service be considered eligible by the Secretary of State for promotion to the higher offices in the Civil Service of Hongkong." Considering that no Interpreter's post was established in Hongkong coming under the category of a "higher office," considering also that even a genius could not possibly qualify himself by studying Chinese "for a certain time," or say two or three years, either for practical interpretation in our Courts or for documentary translation work, this scheme not only expected the Cadets to do the impossible in one direction, but at the same time invited them to do what was possible for them to do in another direction, by opening to them the easy gate to the "higher offices," i.e., to offices leaving no time for Chinese studies.
nese.
In other words, the scheme defeated its own object. It stamped the Interpreters' offices with the character of lower offices, and deliberately made study for interpretatorial duties a mere chrysalis state of transition to produce higher officials possessing but a limited knowledge of Chinese. The Chinese language, more than any other living language, requires constant sharpness of memory and constant practice. He who has once studied Chinese with success for two or three years, but is subsequently by other official duties prevented from daily continuance of his Chinese studies, will, of necessity, have in a few years but a smattering knowledge of the spoken, and less than that of the written language left. All that Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme could possibly produce was a number of Heads of Departments possessing more or less faded reminiscences of a former knowledge of the Chinese language. This is what the scheme could do, and this is what it has actually done. The gentlemen who came out as Cadets under Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme might one and all have become excellent Chinese Interpreters either for oral interpretation or for documentary translation work. But they were never compelled, and in view of the impossibilities the scheme demanded, could not reasonably be compelled under that scheme to be practical Interpreters. They were not even induced by offer of higher pay or independent position to come forward voluntarily and qualify themselves for practical interpretatorial work. They would have been blind to their own interests if they had not left Chinese studies and gone in for "the higher offices."
(c) Cadets diverted to the higher Offices.
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON himself diverted only one of the Cadets from the interpretatorial work for which he had designed them, and that with good reason. He appointed one Cadet as Acting Registrar General, "because he could not get any one else, and because he (the Cadet in question) promised to work early and late at Chinese to prevent the duties of the office interfering with the prosecution of his studies." This was but a slight, and as it seems to me necessary, deviation from the original scheme, because the Registrar General was then also Protector of Chinese, and the latter office required, more than any other, a scholarly knowledge of the Chinese spoken and written languages, and an independent position. But the example thus set was followed by successive Governors, Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL and Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, in cases entirely different. They appointed the same Cadet to other offices not requiring Chinese scholarship, and the other Cadets were, one after the other, appointed to offices such as Sheriff, Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court, Acting Harbour Master, Clerk of Councils, Postmaster General, and so forth. All these offices require but a limited knowledge of the Chinese language, and have not the remotest connection with the object for which the Cadetship Scheme was originally designed, viz., "to supply the Civil Service in Hongkong with an efficient staff of Interpreters."
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5. SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL. 1866-1872.
The action Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL took, as above described, in excluding Chinese and Indian Interpreters from the benefits of the Pension Minute, suggests of itself that he did not appreciate locally-educated native Interpreters. Nor can it be supposed that he was unaware of the effect which his action in placing Chinese Civil Servants on a lower level as to pensions, was bound to produce as regards the supply of native Interpreters. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that when he at last set to work to grapple with the Interpretation problem, he plainly states at the outset (C.S.O. No. 1896 of 14th July 1869), "I think also we should look to getting rid of the greater part of the present Interpreters." Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL's plan was to divide all the Government Interpreters into classes with interchangeable duties, and to award increase of salary and forfeiture according to merit and demerit, on the basis of a system of examinations under the direction of a "College of Interpretation" or Commission, with an able head, giving certificates of competency in connection with a graduated system of increase of salaries. He also determined to give a monthly allowance to every European Constable in the Police Force who succeeded in obtaining a certificate of competency in Chinese Colloquial. This excellent programme, which Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL sketched out with his own pen (C.S.O. No. 1896 of 14th July 1869), was at his request reported upon by Messrs. WHYTE, LISTER, and STEWART (C.S.O. No. 2336 of 31st August 1869). They agreed in recommending that all the Interpreters in the service be examined with a view to classify them, that the Interpreters be accordingly divided into three classes, with salaries of under $25, under $75, and over $75 per mensem, respectively, that no promotion from one class to another be allowed except on the basis of examination, that the Registrar General (Protector of Chinese) should act as Superintendent of this body of Interpreters, that a Board of Examiners be established, with the Registrar General as Chairman and a distinguished Sinologue as Vice-Chairman, that the Cadets be told off in rotation to watch the interpretation in the Courts, that the European members of the Police Force receive rewards for proficiency in Chinese Colloquial, in three grades of $2, $5, and $10, respectively, per mensem, the Inspectors forming a separate class receiving $20 a month, and that the Chinese Police Constables be allowed a small increase of pay for knowledge of English.
Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL referred this report, which clearly was, in the main, but an expansion of the Governor's own ideas, to the Acting Chief Justice, the Honourable J. PAUNCEFOTE. Accordingly, Mr. PAUNCEFOTE reports (C.S.O. No. 2717 of 15th October 1869), but states that he does not approve of the scheme, that in his opinion there should be but one class of Interpreters, that these should be Officers of the Court and under the control of the Judge, well paid and of first-class capability and character, that such men should first be obtained, and meanwhile, the present staff be made serviceable by examinations and facilities for study, but that a Chief Interpreter's post of £600 and four Interpreters' posts at £500 each be established at once and announced open to public competition, when competent men would soon be found. Mr. PAUNCEFOTE then adds the following weighty remarks: "If the standard of qualification to become an Interpreter of the Supreme Court is the same for all and sufficiently high, and adequate inducement is held out in the way of salary and pension, I entertain no doubt that in a few years the Supreme Court will be provided with a first-rate staff." This scheme, however, although it might easily have been combined with many of the features of the Governor's plan, was distasteful to Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL, as it required giving the Interpreters their full status of Civil Servants, and consequently, he allowed affairs interpretatorial to remain in statu quo. Nothing further was done, beyond compiling a tabulated return (C.S.O. No. 118 of 12th January 1870), though the Inspector of Schools, Dr. STEWART, once more urged (C.S.O. No. 1352 of 18th May 1870) the establishment of a "Board of Examiners" and the drawing up of a Syllabus to regulate at least the Chinese studies of all Government Officers drawing Chinese teacher's allowances. In supporting Dr. STEWART's recommendation (C.S.O. No. 1435 of 25th May 1870), the Revd. Dr. LEGGE made some remarks which require quoting. Dr. LEGGE writes, "I do not think the Government ought to expect to raise up from its present staff of native Interpreters, men of a very high class in their department. For natives of China to acquire a fluent and idiomatic command of English, they must live in England for a period, say at least of three years."
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learning the Chinese language. This error was, no doubt, further enhanced by a fundamental mis- conception of the difficulty and peculiar nature of the Chinese language, and by an oversight of the patent fact that but few can possibly master in Hongkong both the complex colloquial variations of dialect required in practical interpretation in the Hongkong Courts and the intricacy of the varions styles of the written language required for documentary translation work. These two branches of interpretation work ought to have been kept distinctly in view and separately provided for. This was not done, and accordingly Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme assumed that a Cadet after two years' study might be competent to act as Interpreter, which is an impossibility.
The most serious objection I have to the Scheme lies in the provision it made that a Cadet after two years' approved service as Interpreter--a stipulation which of course none of the Cadets practically complied with should receive an increase of salary, and "after three years' service be considered eligible by the Secretary of State for promotion to the higher offices in the Civil Service of Hongkong." Considering that no Interpreter's post was established in Hongkong coming under the category of a higher office," considering also that even a genius could not possibly qualify himself by studying Chinese "for a certain time," or say two or three years, either for practical interpretation in our Courts or for documentary translation work, this scheme not only expected the Cadets to do the impossible in one direction, but at the same time invited them to do what was possible for them to do in another direction, by opening to them the easy gate to the "higher offices," i.e. to offices leaving no time for Chinese studies.
nese.
In other words, the scheme defeated its own object. It stamped the Interpreters' offices with the character of lower offices, and deliberately made study for interpretatorial duties a mere chrysalis state of transition to produce higher officials possessing but a limited knowledge of Chi- The Chinese language, more than any other living language, requires constant sharpness of memory and constant practice. He who has once studied Chinese with success for two or three years, but is subsequently by other official duties prevented from daily continuance of his Chinese studies, will, of necessity, have in a few years but a smattering knowledge of the spoken, and less than that of the written language left. All that Sir HERCULES ROBINSON's scheme could possibly produce was a number of Heads of Departments possessing more or less faded reminiscences of a former know- ledge of the Chinese language. This is what the scheme could do, and this is what it has actually done. The gentlemen who came out as Cadets under Sir HERCULES ROBINSON'S scheme might one and all have become excellent Chinese Interpreters either for oral interpretation or for documentary translation work. But they were never compelled, and in view of the impossibilities the scheme demanded, could not reasonably be compelled under that scheme to be practical Interpreters. They were not even induced by offer of higher pay or independent position to come forward voluntarily and qualify themselves for practical interpretatorial work. They would have been blind to their own interests if they had not left Chinese studies and gone in for "the higher offices."
(c) Cadets diverted to the higher Offices.
Sir HERCULES ROBINSON himself diverted only one of the Cadets from the interpretatorial work for which he had designed them, and that with good reason. He appointed one Cadet as Acting Registrar General, "because he could not get any one else, and because he (the Cadet in question) promised to work early and late at Chinese to prevent the duties of the office interfering with the prosecution of his studies." This was but a slight, and as it seems to me necessary, deviation from the original scheme, because the Registrar General was then also Protector of Chinese, and the latter office required, more than any other, a scholarly knowledge of the Chinese spoken and written languages, and an independent position. But the example thus set was followed by successive Governors, Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL and Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, in cases entirely different. They appointed the same Cadet to other offices not requiring Chinese scholarship, and the other Cadets were, one after the other, appointed to offices such as Sheriff, Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court, Acting Harbour Master, Clerk of Councils, Postmaster General and so forth. All these offices require but a limited knowledge of the Chinese language, and have not the remotest connection with the object for which the Cadetship Scheme was originally designed, viz., "to supply the Civil Service in Hongkong with an efficient staff of Interpreters."
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5. SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL. 1866-1872.
The action Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL took, as above described, in excluding Chinese and Indian Interpreters from the benefits of the Pension Minute, suggests of itself that he did not appreciate locally-educated native Interpreters. Nor can it be supposed that he was unaware of the effect which his action in placing Chinese Civil Servants on a lower level as to pensions, was bound to produce as regards the supply of native Interpreters. It is not surprising therefore to find that when be at last set to work to grapple with the Interpretation problem, he plainly states at the outset (C.S.0. No. 1896 of 14th July 1869), "I think also we should look to getting rid of the greater part of the present Interpreters," Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL'S plan was to divide all the Government Interpreters into classes with interchangeable duties, and to award increase of salary and forfeiture according to merit and demerit, on the basis of a system of examinations under the direction of a "College of Inter- pretation" or Commission, with an able head, giving certificates of competency in connection with a graduated system of increase of salaries. He also determined to give a monthly allowance to every Eu- ropean Constable in the Police Force who succeeded in obtaining a certificate of competency in Chinese Colloquial. This excellent programme, which Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL sketched out with his own pen (C.S.O. No. 1896 of 14th July 1869), was at his request reported upon by Messrs. WHYTE, LISTER and STEWART (C.S.O. No. 2336 of 31st August 1869). They agreed in recommending that all the Interpreters in the service be examined with a view to classify them, that the Interpreters be accord- ingly divided into three classes, with salaries of under $25, under $75, and over $75 per mensem respectively, that no promotion from one class to another be allowed except on the basis of examina- tion, that the Registrar General (Protector of Chinese) should act as Superintendent of this body of Interpreters, that a Board of Examiners be established, with the Registrar General as Chairman and a distinguished Sinologue as Vice-Chairman, that the Cadets be told off in rotation to watch the inter- pretation in the Courts, that the European members of the Police Force receive rewards for proficiency in Chinese Colloquial, in three grades of $2, $5 and $10 respectively per mensem, the Inspectors forming a separate class receiving $20 a month, and that the Chinese Police Constables be allowed a small increase of pay for knowledge of English.
Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL referred this report, which clearly was, in the main, but an expansion of the Governor's own ideas, to the Acting Chief Justice, the Honourable J. PAUNCEFOTE. Accord- ingly Mr. PAUNCEFOTE reports (C.S.O. No. 2717 of 15th October 1869), but states that he does not approve of the scheme, that in his opinion there should be but one class of Interpreters, that these should be Officers of the Court and under the control of the Judge, well paid and of first-class capability and character, that such men should first be obtained, and meanwhile the present staff be made serviceable by examinations and facilities for study, but that a Chief Interpreter's post of £600 and four Inter- preters' posts at £500 each be established at once and announced open to public competition, when competent men would soon be found. Mr. PAUNCEFOTE then adds the following weighty remarks :-- "If the standard of qualification to become an Interpreter of the Supreme Court is the same for all "and sufficiently high, and adequate inducement is held out in the way of salary and pension, I enter- "tain no doubt that in a few years the Supreme Court will be provided with a first rate staff." This scheme, however, although it might easily have been combined with many of the features of the Governor's plan, was distasteful to Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL, as it required giving the Interpreters their full status of Civil Servants, and consequently he allowed affairs interpretatorial to remain in stutu quo. Nothing further was done, beyond compiling a tabulated return (C.S.O. No. 118 of 12th January 1870), though the Inspector of Schools, Dr. STEWART, once more urged (C.S.O. No. 1352 of 18th May 1870) the establishment of a "Board of Examiners" and the drawing up of a Syllabus to regulate at least the Chinese studies of all Government Officers drawing Chinese teacher's allowances. In supporting Dr. STEWART's recommendation (C.S.O. No. 1435 of 25th May 1870), the Revd. Dr. LEGGE made some remarks which require quoting. Dr. LEGGE writes, "I do not think the "Government ought to expect to raise up from its present staff of native Interpreters, men of a very high 'class in their department. For natives of China to acquire a fluent and idiomatic command of English, they must live in England for a period say at least of three years."
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