Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 469

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"6. I feel confident that this brief historical review will not be "misconstrued into an expression of satisfaction with either the progress made or the standard attained in so long a period as :( twenty years. My desire is merely to place on record a statement "of the fact that, some advance, however inadequate, has been made "in that time."

4. The 910 boys present at the last examination were divided between a Prepara- tory, a Lower, and an Upper School, the numbers in each being 269, 362, and 279 respectively. About a tenth of these boys are non-Chinese of various races and nationalities, some of whom take their places with the Chinese boys in the Pre- paratory and Lower Schools, while 50 are segregated in separate classes of the Upper School. The education given to these non-Chinese boys appears to be good on the whole.

5. Referring to the Chinese students, attention is drawn to the following opinions expressed by the Head Master in his latest report to the Governing Body :-

Reading is not of a high standard though a great majority of boys pass." Conversation is not a successful subject."

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Again, referring to the General Intelligence Paper, he writes :-

:-

The four Chinese sentences were carefully selected by me so as to be well "known to any educated Chinaman. Yung Kai Pong was the only "scholar out of 21 boys who was really acquainted with the con-

text."

The value of the instruction given in English subjects and the Chinese Writ- ten Language is estimated in section 37.

6. A striking feature in the education at Queen's College is the number and diversity of the subjects taught. They include Algebra, Euclid, Shakespeare, Book- keeping, Mensuration, Physiology and Science.

7. As might have been expected in a Chinese day-school of its size, Queen's College does not appear to engender any spirit of esprit de corps among its boys, a state of things more easily deplored than remedied. A school newspaper has been founded, which is no doubt a step in the right direction.

DISTRICT SCHOOLS.

8. There are at present in the Colony twelve District Schools, that is, Schools maintained by the Government and under the direct control of the Inspector of Schools. It must be obvious to any one acquainted with the Colony that these scl.ools were not established where they are in the fulfilment of any ordered scheme. The whole of the centre of the City of Victoria has no school for boys; Kowloon has no Vernacular Selicol: insignificant hamlets-Sheko and Pokfulum-are favoured. The explanation is, that the existing schools are a survival from a time when the education of the Colony had not yet been largely entrusted to Grant Schools.

The policy of Dr. EITEL, who was Inspector of Schools between the years 1879 and 1897, was, generally speaking, to reduce the number of District Schools and to increase the number of those under the Missionary Bodies. The effects of this policy are shewn below, thus:-

Year.

No. of District Schools.

No. of Grant Schools.

1871,.....

26..

.11*

1881,.

.35...

1891,...

.35...

1901...

12...........

.37 ....81

.78

*This is the total number of Christian Schools in the Colony; the Grant-in-Aid Code in its present form did not come into force until 1878.

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