CO129-298 - Governor Sir Blake Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne - 1900 [3-4] — Page 337

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will be willing to accept a secular position even if the

amount of work justified the appointment of an Officer with

no other duties to perform

10. Interpretation therefore and Translation

of Chinese im the Government Service still remain in as un-

satisfactory state as they were found to be in 1887, There a

are no competent translators; the junior class of interpre-

ters is in great part inefficient, and it will be impossible

to replace the only two really proficient interpreters when

they vacate their posts. The only remedies for this state

of affairs are for the Government to take upon itself the

instruction of student-interpreters and to arrange and

classify interpreters in one Department. This plan was adopted:

in 1897 in the Straits Settlements and is reported to have

work on the whole with success, and has lately been adopted

in the Malay Federated States. But the possession by Chinese

of a good knowledge of English is of great value in the Far

East, and to ensure efficient interpretation the Government

must make up its mind to recognize this and to pay the

market price. It is equally important to remember that to

retain