8
report of the proceedings
from
du
proceedings extracted
a local paper, which gives
cxplanatory statement by
- the Inspector of Schools.
I have the honour to be,
(2)
Eucloure "Daily Press 9th April, 10
My Lord, Your Lordship's Most Obedient
Humble Servant, Marsh
It is satisfactory to find it stated by Dr Eitel but within the list few yors female education has made. my great strides in the Colony.
}
Enclosure "Qaily Press,"
9th Awet, s&d Ariel,
PRESENTATION OF THE BELILIOS
SCHOOL AWARDS.
Yesterday morning an interesting ceremony took place at Government House, where a con- siderable number of girls from educational establishments in this colony, and the heads of. those establishments, were present to witness the awarding of the Bolilios Stars and Medals to those girls who have won them nuder the examin- ation of the Rev. Dr. Eitel. The awards were presented to those who gained them by H. E. the Acting Governor, Hon. W. H. Marsh, C.M.G., and there were also present the Hon. F. Stewart, Acting Colonial Secretary, Right Rev. Bishop Raimondi, Rev, Father Burghignoli, Rev. J. B. Ost, Rev. Dr. Chalmers, Mr. A. P. MacEwen, &c. All the particulars connected with these awards will be found in the statement sup- plied by Dr. Eitel.
Dr. EITEL opened the proceedings with a brief explanatory address, the statements contained in which are embodied more fully in the me- morandum supplied by him, which was follows:
as
"Mr. E. R. Belilios decided, in 1884, to establish (side by side with a fund for tho reward of efforts made to save life in typhoons or during riots) a fund for the advancement and encouragement of female education in Hongkong,' and appointed Mr. H. E. Wode.] house and Mr. A. P. MacEwen to administeri this fund as trustees. He also ordered from London a supply of silver medals and bronze medals in form of a star bearing, in the centre, a representation of the judgment of! Solomon and the name of Mr. Belilios. When these medals arrived, in February, 1885, the trustees requested the Tuspector of Schools to make arrangements with the managers of girls schools in this colony to compete at the close of the year for medals or other prizes to be granted from the above mentioned fund. The Inspector of Schools then invited the re- presentatives of every girls' school in the colony to meat with a view to coming to an agreement with the trustees as to the rules and conditions proposed for the purpose of the competition. At a meeting held on the 5th March, 1835, and sub- sequently, nearly all the managers of girls' schools in the colony agreed to join the com- petition on the basis of the examination annually held by the Inspector of Schools for the Grant- in-Aid Scheme. The trustees subsequently agreed with the Inspector of Schools that any girl actually attending, as a pupil, any private or public school in the colony during the your,|| should be allowed to compete without any limita tion as to age or nationality, and that composi- tion (especially in the English, but also in the Chinese language) should be the principal basis of awards. In accordance with this arrange- ment examinations, were held by the Inspector of Schools in December, 1885, and January, 1886, and on the basis of the papers submitted to the trustees, together with a report by the Inspector of Schools, the remaining trustee, Mr. A. P. MacEwen (in the absene of Mr. H. E. Wodehouse) decided to award for the year 1885 no silver medal, as none of the papers was of peculiar excellence, but to give
L-To Mary Spencer, pupil of the Italian Convent School, a bronze medal and a prize.
2-To Annie Wallace, pupil of the Italian Convent School, a prize.
3-To S. Remedios, pupil of the Victoria Day School, a prize.
4-To Pong In, pupil of the Bonham-road Boarding School, a prize.
5.-To Wong Nyit-fa, pupil of the Basel Mis- sion Boarding School, a prize.
The following societies and schools send de- paties, representing altogether 30 girls' schools in the colony, to attend the ceremony of the prize giving by His Excellency the Administrator at Government House, viz.
1-Basel Missionary Society, Manager, Rev. G. Rensch.
2.-Berlin Missionary Society, Manager, Rev. "F. Hartmann.
3--Church Missionary Society, Manager, Rev. J. B. Ost.
4.-Female Education Society, Manager, Miss Johnstone.
5.Government Girls' School, Teacher, Mr. Leung King Ham.
6-London Missionary Society, Managers, Rev. Dr. Chalmers and Miss Rows.
7-Roman Catholio Missions, Manager, Rev. Father Burghignoli.
8.-Victoria School, Teacher, Mra, Hanlon, 9.-Wesleyan Missionary Society, Manager, Rev. Leung On-tong.
Dr. EtHL stated in addition to the above that the examinations in the European and Chinese Schools had been conducted on the lines Jaid down by the trustees except in one instance where the pupils competing had already passed the Sixth Standard, and there a special subject was given the advantages of religion. One girl of that sebool bad received a prize for her paper on that subject. In the Basel Mission School they did not write ordinarily with Chinese characters, but the Chinese colloquial with Roman characters, and the subject he had given there to write upon was the life of Confucius. A story also was told them twice, and they were required then to write it out. The girls of the Basel Mission had re- ceived a prize for these two papers. It was hoped that this public distribution of prizes would materially aid the carrying out of the end Mr. Belilios had in view-the encouragement and promotion of female education in the colony, Within the last few years female education had made very great strides in this colony. The Laamber of girls' schools was much larger, and the attendance had greatly increased during that time.
His EXCELLENCY-My Lord Bishop, ladies and gentlemen, I have been asked to distribute the prizes to the successful competitors for the Belilios stars and medals at Government House as a kind of neutral ground where pupils from the schools of all the different denominations can meet together. It would have been obviously inconvenient and impossible to have all met in one school and it is with much pleasure that I have acceded to this request. I only regret I was obliged to stipulate that only a certain. num- "ber should attend from each school; I should have been glad to have seen the pupils from all the schools, but there is not sufficient room in Government House to receive them. Before pro- coeding to distribute the prizes I feel bound to express my high appreciation of the great public spirit and interest Mr. Belilios has display- jed in devoting money soliberally to this object. I wish he could have been here in order that I might thank him personally.. Mr. Belilios has always shown a great interest in the promotion of education among all denomina- tions, and he has subscribed a large sum which has been so invested as to to provide anunal prizes not only for these schools, bat for other institutions, such as the Hospital. I am glad to see so many representatives of the girls' schools present here to-day, and I hope the effect of these proceedings will be to lead the representa- tives of the schools to use their earnest endeavours to stimulate competiton for next year's prizes. With all due deference to my Lord Bishop, although it is said envy ought to be rebuked, I think in the matter of prizes for education a small amount of envy is rather a wholesome fouling, not deserving of very severe rebuke 5 His Excellency then proceeded to distribute -the prizes.
Bishop RAIMONDI, in the name of all present, thanked His Excellency for distributing the prizes, and also for giving permission for the ceremony to take place at Government House. He thought that the offering of rewards of this kind for competition was the best method of promoting education-that merit should be re- cognised and rewarded.
The proceedings than terminated,
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