CO129-456 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1919 [10-12] — Page 279

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and the school has a very inadequate playground; no cricket or

football ground; no gymmasium and few of the or linary con- -veniences of a modern school. In spite, however, of these deficiencies the school has become very popular, the scholars have obtained distinction in the University Examinations, and the highest Government grants have been earned.

4.

The success that has attended the removal

of the Diocesan Girls' School to Kowloon in the year 1913, has inspired the Committee with a desire to remove the boys' school to a site where there will be ample room for the development of the work. I consider that both from the point of view of the Government and from that of the school authorities the proposal is sound and that it is deserving of every encourage- -ment. The Government will obtain a site in Victoria required for the improvement of the alignment of Bonham Road, and to provide for an extension of the quarters at the Civil Hospital. It will also be an immense gain to have a large, well conduct- -ed secondary school in the middle of the Kowloon Peninsula, and the Government will be saved the very heavy expense that would be incurred in establishing a school of its om. The fact that the school is denominational is not a serious objection; at least 80 per cent of the boys are non-Christian, there are no tests of any kind, and attendance at Divine Service, school prayers and religious instruction is quite voluntary. Lastly the carrying into effect of the scheme will lead to the surrender of a lease for 999 years without any restrictive clause and the substitution for it of a lease for 75 years, renewable on the usual terms, with a clause restricting the use to that of the Diocesan Boys' School and

Orphanage.

5.

Of the value of the school there is no doubt. Besides being a school it is also an orphanage,

20 per

cent