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still in a backward condition, but it is clear that there is steady progress and room for the hope that the proportion of boys and girls under instruction will soon attain to its normal figure.

PROPORTION of Boys and GIRLS under instruction in Schools under the supervision of the Government, 1880 to 1890.

Year.

1880,

1881,

1882,

1883,

1884,

1885,

1886,

1987,

1888,

1889,

1890,

Boys.

Girls.

Total.

3,187

699

3,886

3,364

859

4,223

3,941

1,241

5,182

4,120

1,477

5,597

4,238

1,647

5,885

4,329

1,700

6,029

4,161

1,683

5,844

4,195

1,779

5,974

4,342

1,916

6,258

4,991

2,116

7,107

4,846

2,324

7,170

10. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.-The rule in force in Hongkong, as regards the number of attendances required to entitle Schools to receive a grant from Government, has been changed at the close of the year 1890. The rule, taken from Foster's Education Act of 1870, was that each scholar for whom a grant is to be paid must have gained at least 200 daily attendances of four hours each.

This rule was- changed in England within a few years after its introduction, as it was found to leave an insufficient margin for sickness and other natural causes always interfering with the regularity of attendance at school. But in Hongkong this rule remained in the Code in spite of repeated protests, until 1890.. The rules at present enforced in England require that each School should be open 200 full days, and each scholar should attend for 22 weeks (say 132 days). The Grant-in-Aid Scheme of Ceylon states that no grant will be allowed for any scholar, who shall have received less than nine months' instruc- tion during the twelve months immediately preceding the examination in the School in which he is examined and who shall have made less than 100 attendances. The rule at present in force in Sin- gapore is that the School shall have met not less than 200 times in the course of the school-year and that no scholar can be presented who has attended less than 100 days in the course of the school- year. The former Hongkong rule, which pressed hardly on European girls and on Portuguese scholars, owing to the trying climate of Hongkong, and which made it impossible for the Grant-in-Aid Scheme. to be applied to the fishing population (the children of which go to sea during the fishing seasons), has been changed by the literal adoption of the rule in force in Singapore. The consequence of this change is that the principal incentive to falsification of the daily attendance list has been removed, that there is hardly any temptation now to bring undue pressure to bear upon weakly children to compel them to make up 200 attendances at the expense of their health, and that Grant-in-Aid Schools have now a definite prospect of success among the village and boat population.

11. RESULTS OF ANNUAL EXAMINATION.-As far as the 76 Grant-in-Aid Schools are concerned, the detailed results of the annual examination of these Schools will be found summarized in Table XIV appended to this Report, where the percentage of scholars passed in each School in 1890, is stated and compared with the results of the preceding year, and in Table XV, which records the percentage of passes gained by those Schools in each subject. As regards the Government Schools, the reports of the Acting Headmaster of Victoria College, and of the Headmistress of the Government Central School for Girls have been published in the Government Gazette, and the Government District Schools will be found classified and arrauged, in the order of their efficiency, in Table X, appended to this Report, which Table embodies the results of the annual examination of these District Schools. I subjoin, how- ever, some critical observations as to those examination results which have not yet been sufficiently brought forward.

12. VICTORIA COLLEGE.-The Acting Headmaster has pointed out in his report that the percent- age of passes obtained at the last examination (89.45) was lower than in previous years, that the work done by Classes I. B and III. B was far below the average, but that the work of Classes I. A; II. B; III, A and that of the whole Preparatory School deserves special mention. Although I do not attach very much importance to the average of passes, considered by itself, as it is influenced from year to year by varying special circumstances, I agree with the Acting Headmaster, in view of other things I noticed in the course of the examination and especially after comparing the examination papers of Victoria College with those of other Anglo-Chinese and English Schools, which compete with the College, that the general result of last year's examination has not been altogether satisfactory. Con- sidering that Victoria College has decidedly the best and largest staff in the Colony, the best and largest accommodation, abundance of school materials (provided at a cost of over $2,000 a year), and. that it is, by its independence as to the matter of school-fees, in a better position to enforce strict dis- cipline than private institutions whose existence largely depends on the fees and favour of scholars and parents, one might expect that the results obtained by Victoria College should be above those which I find from year to year in similar Anglo-Chinese and English Schools. I believe that Victoria College is on the whole still the best School of its kind in the Colony, but I also see indications which make me believe that it is in great danger of falling behind in the keen race of competition now going-