Sessional_Paper_1903 — Page 564

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VIII. His Lordship's responsibility for the Report is therefore confined to Part II and the first few pages of Part I. The rest of Part I and most of Part Ill and the whole of Part IV were not discussed between us and him he has not seen Parts V and VI.

IX. It remains to reply to certain statements in His Lordship's letters which cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged. The references are to the marginal numbers in the letters.

HIS LORDSHIP'S LETTER OF THE 13TH MARCH.

1.-"The sweeping condemnation of the educational work now being done in all Classes of Schools is in ny opinion too severe."

At the first sitting of the Committee His Lordship laid before us a Memorandum drawn up by himself, a part of which runs as follows:-

"In the elementary Schools the boys apparently learn nothing that they can use in after life unless they go on to secondary Schools. In the secondary Schools the majority of the boys acquire no practical working knowledge of either Chinese or English, they cannot translate from one language to the other, and they do not know enough to give them a command of the literature in either language. The other subjects which they study they know for the most part in parrot fashion having learnt them in a language which they do not know. Such results are not beneficial either for the develop- ment of the individual, or for the spread of sound knowledge amongst the people."

We submit that this statement is as sweeping a condemnation as any to be found in the Report.

2.-

“The attempt to enforce the proposals made would inevitably lead to the closing of a very large proportion of the Grant-in-Aid Schools.”

There are seventy-eight Grant Schools in the Colony, made up as follows:- Fifty-seven Vernacular Schools. These are left untouched by the Committee except that Western Knowledge is to be taught in all classes--a provision defin- itely approved by His Lordship, and which cannot therefore have been considered by him as likely to close the Schools.

Nine English Schools. All these, except the Diocesan, are practically untouch- ed, except that the grant is more than doubled.

Eight Anglo-Clamese Schools.--All these, too, remain practically untouched. One of these schools is in a satisfactory condition. As to the rest, the Committee only recommended that in the event of their still proving unsatisfactory in the future, the Grant to them should be withdrawn and they should be replaced by the English classes in the Vernacular Schools, if the latter were sufficient in numbers and efficiency.-(Section 49 of the Report.)

Four Roman Catholic Portuguese Schools.-His Lordship agreed to Section 28 of the Report which recommends the unconditional withdrawal of the Grant from these Schools. This is by far the most drastic reform recommended in

the Report.

It therefore appears that the fears expressed by His Lordship are exaggerated. 3.-"I do not think it right to say English and Chinese MUST not be taught side by side if the parents wish it."

We do not say so. We say that the State should not pay a Grant for what is not a proper education. That the education of English and Chinese side by side is not a "proper education," His Lordship is our witness :—

"Thus of a total of 109 Schools, there are only four available for English children. We consider that even in those four schools in which there are English teachers, European boys cannot secure a proper educa- tion. Education should include both the acquirement of knowledge, and also the formation of character. In both these respects we