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ut while the weakest of the schools have thus been warned, encouragement has n given to the better, by offering free scholarships for 4 years from them into either the elilios School or one of the District Schools. The schools thus selected as worthy of encouragement are given in Table VIII. These scholarships are eagerly competed for, and the system promises well.

GENERAL.

Scholarships.

42. In Table VIII is given a list of scholarships, with the names of the winners at the end of 1906 or the beginning of 1907. If the system alluded to in the last paragraph, the linking of the Vernacular Schools with the District Schools, could be made general, the latter would no doubt reap a considerable benefit. It will be remembered that before a boy can enter them an entrance examination in written Chinese has to be passed. If this preliminary knowledge were acquired in schools under the control of the Department, not only would it fit better with the pupils' further studies in Chinese at the District Schools, but also they would come to school with a good grounding in Arithmetic and Geography, and would be able to concentrate their attention almost exclusively during the next 2 years on the acquisition of English. The Hongkong system of education has rightly made English the medium of instruction. The Hongkong boys are tacitly agreed to spend not more than 5 years in English schools. If then, any good use is to be made of the English acquired for the advancement of other studies, there must be no time lost in acquiring it. All studies in the first 3 years should be subordinated thereto; and if some of them can be taken during a preliminary education at the Vernacular Schools, then so much the better. It is however to be feared, that the class of boys who attend the free Vernacular Schools under the Grant Code is not one that can afford even a 5 years English education.

Fisual Instruction.

43. In the year 1905, the Government of Hongkong on the initiative of the Home Government subscribed the large sum of $3,000 towards a scheme for promoting knowledge of the Mother Country among the schools of the Empire. With this sum 2 lanterns and sets of lantern slides have been purchased and supplied, and a course of interest- ing lectures to accompany them. These arrived in the Colony at the beginning of the

year. under review, and steps were at once taken to put them to the best use.

44. There was a considerable difficulty in arranging the lectures to the best advantage,. owing

to the great distances separating the schools. The Diocesan Home and Orphanage and the Victoria School are more than 3 miles apart as the crow flies, while the Kowlcon School is 2 miles from either, with the harbour between. Moreover, the weather and the seasons put a limit to the time in which lectures can conveniently be given. The long days of summer call for artificial darkening of the lecture room, and that necessitates closed windows. To submit a closely packed roomful of children, at the end of their day's work, to such conditions, with the thermometer between 80 and 90 and the air full of acetylene- gas, is clearly impossible. The authorities of the Italian Convent wrote, as early as the beginning of May, "Having to close all the doors and windows, the room became so hot- that more than one-girl felt giddy. I am afraid we can not avail ourselves of it during this hot weather....We can not have the day scholars here when it is dark now, that is after 7 o'clock p.m."

At the best, from the beginning of May to the end of September, the lanterns- can not be used.

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45. Had it been otherwise desirable, it would no doubt have been convenient to bring the pupils of the different schools into some central place, such as the City Hall, and there- deliver the lectures to them all together. But in practice, there seem to be many objections to such a course. Besides others having relation to the discipline of the different schools- and the difficulty of getting the pupils to attend, it was pointed out, and with much reason, that children are much more likely to assimilate lectures given by their own teacher, who will rehearse the main points on the next day, than if they had merely listened to a lecture from a stranger, who was quite unacquainted with the amount of knowledge his audience already possessed.