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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. it, and temporary relief from the overcrowd- then the question whether it is preferable ing was found in other directions. The ground" to convert the Central School into an art therefore lay idle and the Polo Club was al- college or into some technical academy lowed to make use of it.
"Once a use always "will have to be decided upon. But as it a custom" is a maxim that we would like to "is a question about which it would be see applied in the present instance. The "simply labouring in the dark to reach the financial aspect of the case must of course "final goal were we to set forth views with- not be overlooked. The reclamation cost a out ascertaining the views of the Govern- good deal of money and the work would ment and of the Education Committee, the perhaps never have been undertaken had it advisability of deferring the discussion of been foreseen that the land would not sell it for the nonce can hardly be gainsaid." for so many years, though it must not be for- The Educational Commission presented its gotten that sanitary considerations also report, which was adverse to elevating the entered into the project, the foreshore there, Central School (now Queen's College) into crowded as it was with small boats, being a collegiate institution and recommended in a condition that might almost be described that the school should be developed on as pestiferous. However, the cost is a thing its then basis, a new building and a larger of the past, the money has been paill, and it staff of masters being provided. The re- is now the future that has to be considered. commendations of the Commission have been Valuable as the site is likely to become in given effect to, but the policy of the Gov- the near future, it could hardly he turned to ernment still seems to be in a very unsettled better use than that of an open space for the state, cach Governor having different views enjoyment and health of the European com- from his predecessor and praising or dis- munity. The only point, it seems to us, on paraging the school according to his per- which some little hesitancy may be justifiable sonal bias, so that we find ourselves practi- is as to whether it is the particular cally at the same point in the discussion that piece of ground now in use by the Polo we were at fifteen years ago. This uncertainty Club that should be retained for recreation is not conducive to educational progress, and purposes or whether some other piece in the it would be well if by a Governmental immediate neighbourhood would not answer minute or other official act some leading the requirements equally well, the Cause-principles could be laid down as those which way Bay ground with its sea frontage should govern educational development in being left for industrial or residential pur- the future. poses. Without expressing a decided opinion on the point we must confess that our sympathies are with the retention of the present ground. Neither the Polo Club nor the general public have any legal rights over it, but the fact remains that it is at present in use as a recreation ground, and as a general principle it is inadvisable to hard recreation grounds over to the builder.
February 27, 1896.] established. The population of the colony is now over two hundred and fifty thousand; that it will be doubled within the next twenty or thirty years there can be little doubt, and present residents here may perhaps live to see it reach a million. With- out indulging in speculations as to figures, however, it is certain that the inhabitants of the colony must largely increase, and almost equally certain is it that the land along the Shaukiwan Road will become a great manufacturing district with a tramway communicating with the centre of the town. In view of the probabilities above sug- gested--and no one, we think, will say that they are unreasonable the question of recreation grounds for the increasing popula- tion obtrudes itself. We refer more parti- cularly to recreation grounds for Europeans. Chinese requirements will also have to be considered, but the native community do not desire or appreciate facilities for outdoor exercise as the European community do, and that part of the question may perhaps be left over until the demand arises. For the present therefore we confine ourselves to the question of recreation grounds for Europeans and the importance of at once setting aside some convenient site along the Shaukiwan Road for this purpose. In large towns at home enormous sums have been expended in securing breathing spaces, or lungs as they are appropriately termed, for the congested population. In Hong- kong such expenditure is at present un- necessary, and ought to be unnecessary for ever, because the Crown possesses ample land for the purpose. It is a simple matter, and ought to be a matter of ordinary pre caution in the laying out of a great city, to reserve such land as is likely to be required for recreation, but once the land is parted with it is difficult and expensive to get it back. At the present time alarm is felt, and with good reason, as to the fate of the Polo Ground at Causeway Bay, and a move- ment is on foot to secure its retention, not for the game of polo exclusively, but as a general recreation ground available for that and other games, the management to be con- ducted on similar lines to that of the Happy Valley Recreation Ground. It may be asked whether the latter ground is not sufficient for the requirements of the colony. To that the reply must be a most decided negative. One has only to go down to the Happy Valley any afternoon and see the crowds assembled there and the humerous games in progress to satisfy himself on that point. True the Happy Valley ground is capable of extension by taking in the so- called Public Gardens adjoining, as proposed when the Athletic Club was pro- jected, but the extension which will have to be made sometime, will soon be over- taken by the demand. The filling in of the Happy Valley swamp and its conversion into a recreation ground was one of the greatest boons ever conferred upon the colony and the benefits derived therefrom are out of all proportion to the trifling ex- penditure the work involved, being in fact inestimable on any mere monetary basis. Like Oliver Twist, the colony wants more, and, seeing the Polo Ground in danger of being diverted to building purposes, it is well that a prompt request for its retention as an open space should be made. A year hence and it may be too late.
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Causeway Bay, it will be remembered, was reclaimed at considerable cost partly to get rid of the obnoxious foreshore, and partly with a view to its sale for building purposes for the relief of the congestion at that time prevailing in the central districts. Its distance from the town, however, was against
M
EDUCATION IN HONGKONG,
on
Mr. H. M. MEITA has had reprinted in pamphlet form a public letter written by him in 1881 "Education in Hong- kong," which has interest at the present time in view of the controversy raised by the Governor's speech at the recent dis- tribution of prizes at Queen's College. His Excellency complained, it will be remem- bered, that Queen's College had not yet become "the Oxford, and Cambridge of "China,” and, in effect, that the institution had not succeeded in transforming the Chinese of Hongkong into an English speaking race. Writing fifteen years ago, Mr. MEHTA declared "the political expedi- ency, equity, and morality of educating the Chinese to a high level," a moot question, and that there existed the neces sity of vindicating such a policy, if serious- ly thought of. Having suggested various points for the consideration of the Educa- tional Commission, which had then just been appointed, and given his own views on some of them, based on experience gaineil in con- nection with education in India, Mr. MEHTA concludes as follows:-"From the branch "schools the next step is the Central School, "whatever may be its transfiguration; but "once launched therein the question arises "how far to advance a student's education, "when the lights and shades of the question "of the expediency and equity of highly educating the Chinese as viewed from "different standpoints are steadily kept before the eyes. If, no matter on what ground this question stands, it be considered a plain matter of duty that the Chinese, though subjects of an alien Government, "should be highly educated even beyond "the simple requirements of this colony,
We
The problem is not a new one. have the experience of England before us, and the experience of India, and all that remains to be done is to apply that experi ence to local circumstances. In England' the state has made clementary education compulsory and free. conditions are hardly ripe for compulsion, In Hongkong the nor, perhaps, for making elementary educa- tion altogether free, but the Government collects taxes from the Chinese and is morally bound to devote a portion of the revenue to education. There are some Europeans who think the education of Chi- nesc altogether a mistake and a waste of money, so far as the Government is con-. cerned; if the Chinese want education, they say, let them get it themselves. That is not a view the Government could adopt, as it is a recognised principle throughout the empire that the state owes a duty to education. Others, again, say that the efforts of the Government should be devoted solely to the teaching of English, to the exclusion of the Chinese language. Another view is that while an English education is essential for boys who are to become clerks in mercantile offices it is an unnecessary luxury in the case of the ordinary labouring class. On the subject of teaching English and Chinese together in Queen's College the Educational Commission in their report said:" To secure more time for, and greater efficiency in, the study of English in the Central School, it is essential that great at- "tention should be paid by the scholars to the study of Chinese during the earlier years of their attendance. For this pur- pose there should be an Upper and a "Lower School. In the latter, Chinese "should go hand in hand with English, and "about the same amount of time should be "devoted to each. For passing from the "Lower to the Upper School, there should "be a stringent examination, and no Chinese
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boy should be admitted to the Upper "School until he is considered by the ex- "aminers to have, obtained a competent “knowledge of his own language. When "this has been attained, the translation "lessons in the Upper School would prevent "any neglect of Chinese which might arise "when the ordinary lessons in that language
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