652348-1891-Report-Examination-Grant-in-Aid-Schools — Page 1

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 21ST MARCH, 1891.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.-No. 123.

197

The following letter, with enclosure, from the Inspector of Schools, reporting the result of the examination of the Grant-in-Aid Schools, is published for general information.

By Command,

W. M. DEANE, Acting Colonial Secretary.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 21st March, 1891.

No. 14.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 16th February, 1891.

SIR, I have the honour to forward, under this enclosure, the usual Tabulated Summary of the amounts earned, during the year 1890, by the 76 Schools of the Colony under the Grant-in-Aid Code of 1883, and I beg to recommend that, if the pro ratâ reduction which I find necessary is approved by His Excellency the Governor, and if the account I enclose is found correct by the Audit Office, a warrant be issued for the payment, through the Colonial Treasury, of the Grants due, as hereunder explained, and amounting in the aggregate (after a reduction of 10 per cent.) to $19,704.17.

2. The sum nominally earned by 76 Schools under the provisions of the Grant-in-Aid Code, at the end of the year 1890, amounts to a total of $22,015.46, but as the sum voted for Grants-in-Aid, and included in the Estimates for 1891, amounts only to $20,000 and has already been drawn upon to the amount of $250, the balance now actually available for Grants-in-Aid amounts to $19,750, so that the Grants nominally earned by the Grant-in-Aid Schools in 1890 exceed the balance in hand by $2,265.46.

3. I beg to recommend therefore that the amounts nominally earned by the Grant-in-Aid Schools in 1890 be subjected, as usual in such cases,. to a pro ratâ reduction, which in the present case I propose to fix at 10 per cent. This reduction will amount in the aggregate to $2,311.29 and bring down the amount payable to the Schools to $19,704.17. Thus the expenditure for Grants-in-Aid will be kept within the limits of the Estimates for 1891, leaving in hand a balance of $45.83.

4. For this recommendation there are several precedents on record. It will be seen from C.S.O. 493 of 1883, 291 of 1888 and 258 of 1890, that the Grants nominally earned by the Grant-in- Aid Schools were subjected to pro ratâ reductions, amounting in 1883 to 14.33 per cent., in 1888 to 1 per cent. and in 1890 to 5.3 per cent.

5. My authority for this recommendation is contained in Secretary of State's Despatch No. 211 of 30th September, 1882, in which Lord KIMBERLEY directed "that the sum of money voted each year for Grants-in-Aid ought not, under any circumstances, to be exceeded." The justice of the proposed reduction will be seen from the fact that the Grant-in-Aid Code under which these Grants have been nominally earned, makes express provision for an occasional reduction of the amount, by laying down the rule (No. 6) that "the Government will not bind itself to give Grants to all Schools claiming them under the foregoing conditions, but will be guided by the circumstances of each case and by the amount of money at its disposal for educational purposes."

6. I now beg to recommend that the enclosed accounts be examined as usual by the Audit Office and that, when the accounts are approved or revised, a warrant be issued for the sum of $19,704.17 to be disbursed, as usual, by the Colonial Treasury.

7. It has been customary, since 1884, for the Inspector of Schools to supply the Colonial Trea- surer with a detailed list of the payees and of the amounts due under the Grant-in-Aid account, when approved by the Audit Office, and to supply the Managers and Teachers with warrants for the respective payments due in each case. These warrants are then paid on presentation at the Treasury and retained there as vouchers of the payments made. This mode of payment has all along worked satisfactorily and I propose to follow the same plan in the present case.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

The Honourable F. FLEMING, C.M.G.,

Colonial Secretary.

E. J. EITEL, Pí. D.,

Inspector of Schools.