46
No. 1.
KONG THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 5TH FEBRUARY,
1870.
MAGISTRACY, HONGKONG, 4th February, 1870. SIR-I have the honor to place in your hands for submission to His Excellency The GOVERNOR the Report of the Fire Brigade for the month of January ultimo.
An Inspection and Parade was held on the 20th January. The Government Engines and the Engines of the Chinese Associations were assembled at the Cross Roads at 4 P.M., and thence No. 1 Steam Engine was taken to the Praya West. near the Peninsular and Oriental Steain Navigation Company's Coal Godowns, and the whole of the Iland Engines to the Queen's Road at the West end of Circular Buildings, laying their delivery hose through the Gap toward the centre of Tai-ping-shan. The No. 1 Steam Engine supplied Sea water a distance of 360 feet to the Haud Engines; all worked satisfactorily.
The repairs and New Cylinder for No. 2 Steam Engine having been completed by the Engineers of Her Majesty's Naval Yard (as sanctioned by the Senior Naval Öfficer) trials were held on the 22nd and 24th of January at the Naval Yard and as the Engine worked satisfactorily it was delivered over to me on the 25th January.
During the month the hose and implements at the Subsidiary Fire Stations were inspected and found correct and in order.
On the 28th January an Inspection of the Government Fire Brigade was held at the Cross Roads at 4 P.M.; the Steam and Hand Engines, Supply Carts, Hose and Implements, Fire Ladders, Fire Hooks and Ropes, Hose Reels and Hose in store, and the personal equipment of the then, were examined and found clean, in good order, and fit for immediate use.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
The Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN,
Your most obedient Servant,
C. MAY, Superintendent Fire Brigade.
No. 13.
Colonial Secretary.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Annual Report on the state of the Government Schools in Hongkong for the Year 1869, is published for general information.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 5th February, 1870.
J. GARDINER AUSTIN,
Colonial Secretary.
HONGKONG, 31st January, 1870.* SIR,-I have the honour of presenting to you the Annual Report on the Government Schools in this Colony for the year 1869.
2. Having entered so fully into the history of these schools in the last Annual Report, I do not deem it necessary to do anything more in the present one than to refer to a few matters of detail.
3. The arrival of a third English Master, in the course of last year, has added very considerably to the efficiency of the Central School. Subjects which, previously, could be attended to with great difficulty have now become a regular part of the school routine. Two new subjects, Chemistry and Geometry, have been added, and all the ordinary branches receive much greater attention than, in former years, could possibly be given to them. The additional assistance also enables the Head Master to have the whole school more completely under his own personal supervision. He is no longer, what he really was before, simply the teacher of three of the classes. It may be safely said that the school has entered on a new stage of progress.
4. After long delay, the Laboratory is at last in full working order. Considerable difficulty was experienced at first, partly from the defective state of the apparatus, which had been lying unused for about two years, and partly from my own inexperience.
5. The Lessons in Chemistry proceed slowly but, it is to be hoped, surely. The aim attempted is not the mere amusement but, as far as may be, the sound instruction of the boys in a department of science to which they have nothing corresponding in their own schools. Much interest in it is taken by them at present. It will be unfortunate if it is allowed to flag. It is not likely, however, that the indifference, real or assumed, of their countrymen to this and kindred studies will be any impediment here. The boys are too young in the art of dissimulation to feel that the gratification of a natural curiosity is a confession of inferiority.
6. Although additional assistance has been obtained, the number of scholars at the school has not been materially increased. This was not intended. With even a smaller attendance, there would be ample work for the present teachers, more especially as the gradual increase in the number of Village Schools necessitates the more frequent absence of the Head Master. The object to be gained is not, at present, the attraction of more scholars, but the thorough teaching of the school in its existing
condition.
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