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enable properly qualified teachers to open schools without running into debt; (b) to keep fees at a reasonable level; and (c) to ensure proper salaries for teachers.

Were it not for the subsidy many of these schools would be com- pelled either to charge exorbitant school fees in order to pay their teachers or to balance their budget by paying unrea- sonably low salaries and consequently lowering the standard of their tuition. The number of schools receiving subsidy varies from year to year; the size of each subsidy is deter- mined by the school's deficit and is in any case not less than half the difference between expenditure and income.

Private schools are those which are not in need of or do not merit Government assistance. A school may at any time apply for Government subsidy or the Director of Education may approach the school manager and propose a subsidy if it appears that it is in the interests of the children or of the children's parents that this should be done. The private schools vary considerably both in size and in character. Education may be conducted in these schools either in English or in Chinese and their enrolments vary from 100 pupils or less to large schools with an attendance of about 900 children. The medium of instruction in schools varies from one category to another. In some English is the sole language, in others Chinese, and a number of schools have classes in both languages. The grant-aided schools mainly use English al- though one school is entirely taught in Chinese. Teaching in subsidized and private schools is usually carried out in Chinese.

The Military schools cater for the children of serving officers and men under the age of eleven. The staff of these schools is recruited from the Army Education Corps and the Queen's Army Schoolmistresses. They are exempted from the provisions of the Education Ordinance.

Normally secondary education in English is to a great ex- tent in the hands of Government and grant-aided schools, while subsidized schools and private schools are largely concerned with though not confined to the field of primary education.

Within the urban area in 1941 there were 649 schools. The vast majority of these-529 in number-were private schools: 91 were subsidized, and of the remainder 9 were Government and 20 grant-aided schools. The Government schools gave education to 1,500 primary and 1,199 secondary pupils, and the Grant Schools to 6,346 primary and 3,274 secondary pupils. Owing to the destruction of records no accurate information is available as to the number of pupils being instructed in subsidized private schools in the urban area before the war, but in the whole Colony subsidized schools accounted for 16,353 primary and 6,931 secondary pupils, while the private schools had an enrolment of 50,814 primary and 25,951 secondary pupils. The Grant Schools had no part in the field of rural education but two Government primary schools catered for 400 pupils in the rural areas.