Sessional_Paper_1895 — Page 96

92

the vicinity of the College, and the smoke and smell of burning stuff, refuse from plague-stricken houses, were borne into the building from a spot not 50 ft. distant, the gradual nature of the exodus deserves praise rather than censure. It is difficult to ascertain with precision, how many of our boys succumbed to this disease. Eight deaths have been reported as due to this cause. Early in June two of our boys, living in quite different parts of the town, suddenly died of plague. Só Man-chau was in school on Saturday, the 2nd, and reported dead and buried on Monday the 4th; on the same Monday, Leung Shi-chák was removed to hospital, and reported dead on the following day. As a consequence, 280 boys left, in the course of the week, and 120 more, before the close of the month. With rare exceptions, the boys observed the usual formalities, bringing their parents or guardians to apply for leave. On the 14th July, there were 48 boys for the 21 class-rooms instead of 832 as in May. His Excellency the Governor, under the circumstances permitted the vacation to begin a fortnight earlier than usual.

6. On re-opening on the 3rd September, 557 boys returned and by the end of the month, this number had risen to 625, not counting 37 boys newly admitted. I attribute this satisfactory return, of so large a number of boys, to the Governor's kind consideration, in remitting on account of the Plague, the arrears of fees due from boys who were absent in the months of June and July; for there can be no doubt that otherwise a considerable number would have stayed away on account of inability to pay such large lump sums as $12, $8 &c. As it is, 235 names were missing between May and September, as against 109 last year or an extra loss of 126 boys in the summer of 1894.

7. RETRENCHMENT.-Experience, as observable in connexion with the formation of a new department, or the extension of an old one, has shown that the expenses grow, in the first few years, to a considerable extent in excess of the original estimate. It is therefore to the credit of Dr. STEWART and Dr. EITEL that their approval of my estimate in 1887 of the number of officers, and items of expenditure, required for the New Building has in no particular been subject to increase; for we cannot take into account, the general increase of 35% and 20% to the Civil Service, nor the item, English Books, where fall in silver has necessitated further adjustment; neither of which events could possibly have been foreseen. The Colonial Treasurer in his evidence before the Retrenchment Committee, said (p. 127) "When men become trained in Treasury work, they become very valuable. If a rush of prosperity comes to the Colony, several of my staff, some of whom are really intelligent men, may leave me at once for better pay" and this sentiment was echoed by other Heads of Department. The same argument applies with greater force to the trained Chinese Assistants of this establishment; if they continue to be underpaid, the old experience of their departure, when their services are most valuable, will again be felt. The onus of showing, that younger and more incompetent Chinese are suitable to be teachers of English, in fourteen of the twenty-one classes of this College, falls on those who dispute my position, which is, that Chinese teachers of ages ranging from 25 to 40, competent to teach a variety of English subjects, surely deserve higher salaries than young Chinese clerks five and ten years their junior, who are only required to copy or translate documents. It has however gravely been suggested to reduce the salaries of these masters which are already lower than those of copying clerks; this would certainly reduce expenditure, but render any chance of maintaining efficiency hopeless.

8. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS.-Dr. GUSTAV OPPERT, Professor at Madras University, and Dr. DENNYS, Protector of Chinese in British North Borneo, both paid a visit and expressed great interest in the education given here. The latter paid us the highest compliment, by selecting after competitive examination, a First Class boy to accompany him back to Borneo, as clerk and interpreter in his own Department.

#1

9. CHANGE IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COLLEGE.-On the 3rd September I received notice that the Secretary of State had decided that all connection with the Education Department and Queen's College should cease, and that the College should be placed under the management of a Governing Body.' This was supplemented on the 6th December, by an explanation conveyed in an extract from the Secretary of State's Despatch, viz: "The change which is now being initiated has been devised in Dr. WRIGHT'S Own interests, as well as those of the school. It is an alternative to the existing system, which has been found to be unsatisfactory."

10. NON-CHINESE CLASSES.-It was a pleasure to me to observe that the Retrenchment Committee (par. 136) share my opinion, that it is the duty of the College to make special provision for the education of such English and other non-Chinese boys as wish to enter. Two classes have been specially formed for their benefit, under the charge of English masters; but it will be only possible to maintain these, if the number of pupils does not fall below a minimum of 60 for the two classes combined. It rests therefore entirely with the parents to show their appreciation of the advantages specially devised for them. One well-known Government Official, by sending his two sons here, has broken through the prejudice, with which we have always had to contend viz: that the preponderance of Chinese scholars renders this place unsuitable for boys of other nationalities. In this connexion however it is not to be forgotten, that there is hardly a school in the Colony but has at length admitted Chinese, after starting with exclusively non-Chinese pupils. The two classes, above spoken of, are for convenience called from the position of their class-rooms, Class Ic. and IIc, but this gives an inaccurate impression of the standard of work. Each of these classes is divided into two sections. In Class Ic, only one boy took the papers of Class IA, the remainder of the Senior Section taking those of IB; while the Junior Section found Class II papers sufficiently difficult. Class IIc, took History, Geography and Composition with Class III, and the Seniors also worked Euclid and Algebra papers prepared for the same class; but in Arithmetic and Grammar, the Senior Section sat with Class IV, and the Junior