Sessional_Paper_1903 — Page 102

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town and several villages in Hongkong. They said they had never been taught. They gave me the names of the five continents, five oceans, countries of Asia, rivers of China, capital of China. I could not get any definitions of "island" or "river" from them. They answered well in other subjects, such as metals and their uses, &c.

The second day I gave then some written work.

The younger classes of those I examined made two sentences em- bodying two Chinese characters I had chosen. Their sentences were all good.

Letter-writing.

The elder classes wrote a letter. gave as subject matter, the Public Gardens-what they would see and hear there, and whom they might see there. The letters were, on the whole, fair, one or two were rather stereotyped, and one, written by a pupil in class V, whose number is 131, is really very good. The set forms of her letter are well chosen, and the subject matter natural and showing an observant mind. She is the only one who writes of the pond and the gold fish and the little English children playing and fighting there."

Thus there are within the building a somewhat languishing Upper School of about thirty girls, a flourishing Lower School of about sixty girls and boys, and a Chinese school of about one hundred and forty girls.

It seems a pity that some at least of these last should not be receiving instruc- tion in English and Western Knowledge, such as their brothers and future husbands are now obtaining, especially when there is upon the premises a Staff with time at its disposal and special qualifications for the task. For these reasons I have obtained permission to allow a class of these girls to study English with Miss BATEMAN in the afternoons, continuing their Chinese studies in the morning. They will pay a reduced fee of fifty cents.

DISTRICT SCHOOLS.

Education in the Colony may, for administrative purposes, be arranged under three Heads. Under the first is Queen's College, entirely independent of the Education Department. The second includes the Grant Schools, which are con- nected with the Department, but by loose bonds; in consequence of which experience proves, that any reform set in motion by the Department takes at least a year to produce its results in the Grant Schools. The District Schools, however, like the Kowloon School and the Belilios School, are within the direct control of the Inspector of Schools. It was, therefore, natural that the changes in the educational policy, recommended by the Committee on Education, should produce their first fruits in these schools.

The District Schools are the survivors of a centripetal movement, by which in the year 1860 a number of them were brought together to form the Central School, now Queen's College. The rest, scattered beyond the reach of that centre of attraction, have pursued each one its isolated course. One after another they suffered extinction, until at the beginning of 1902 only the following were left:- at Wan Tsai, Sai Ying Pun, Yau Ma Ti, and Wong Nai Chung, English Schools; and at Wan Tsai, Sai Ying Pun, Tang Lung Chau, Pok Fu Lam, and Shek 0, Chinese Schools,

It is necessary to give a brief description of these schools as they were at the beginning of the year under review for a proper understanding of the changes introduced in them. At Wan Tsai and Sai Ying Pun (English Schools), English, Arithmetic, and Geography were taught up to the Fourth Standard. The