must cross over to Victoria, and girls over sixteen must leave Victoria School and cross to Kowloon, which seems to suggest that the Inspector of Schools has not the full courage of his convictions.
In this connection, while admitting that for other reasons the establishment in a British colony of schools for British boys and girls is highly desirable, it is only just to the denizens of the ancient and enormous Empire of China to put on record that one of the reasons urged by the parents for this segregation, viz., the fear of moral contamination of their children from association with Chinese schoolmates, is based on popular prejudice, which is not supported by the evidence of those competent to form an opinion founded upon experience. On the occasion of a visit to the Central School in 1885, General Cameron, then administering the government, asked the headmaster his opinion of the morals of his Chinese pupils, and received the answer: "About the same as those of schoolboys of other nations, certainly not worse." Dr. Stewart, the previous headmaster, on being appealed to, corroborated the statement. Dr. Eitel, the Inspector of Schools, whose experience was still more varied, as he had been for many years a missionary among the Hakka population on the mainland, then made the following important pronouncement: "Taking them class by class, Your Excellency, the Chinese compare very favourably with Western nations in the matter of morality." The General laughed, and said "That is your opinion, gentlemen. Well, nobody will believe you." Here we have the whole affair in a nutshell. Popular prejudice is tenacious of life. Nobody will accept an actual fact opposed to the belief of the man in the street.
When Inspector of Schools, Dr. Stewart endeavoured to induce the Government to favour a policy of compulsory education, then exploited in England. All succeeding inspectors of schools have concluded, and justly so, that it is absolutely impracticable to dream of introducing compulsory education into Hongkong. The enormous army of school attendance officers necessary to render the scheme in the least degree efficient, is in itself sufficiently appalling; to say nothing of the time that would be wasted at the magisterial court in warning and fining offenders. The discrepancy between the estimated number of children of school age in the Colony, and those attending school is largely accounted for by the boating population; though even these are not indifferent to the advantages of Western education, as Queen's College and Yaumati Government School can testify. From whatever cause, however, there has been in the last few years a very perceptible decrease in the number of children seen toiling up the hillside with loads of brick and earth.
Chinese boys are for the most part docile, well-behaved, and, to some extent, eager to learn. They have, however, a disposition to be eclectic. If, for instance, they do not see the present advantage of the study of geography or geometry, they neglect these subjects as far as the rules of the school may permit. They do not recognise that in a commercial career, a correct knowledge of cities and countries, of their manufactures and products, may be of real service in after life; nor do they appreciate the fact that the average Chinaman is incapable of sustaining an argument, starting with false or indeterminate premisses and cheerfully pursuing a circuitous course to the point from which he started, the only cure for which is a rigid course of geometrical study. There is, perhaps, no characteristic of the Chinese nation more universally admitted than their possession of a marvellous memory. But the questions arise: Is it a serviceable memory? Is it not rather an agent for cramming? Are there not, as a matter of fact, nearly 99 per cent. of them incapable of remembering, after the lapse of a year, the salient points of any subject (say history) in which they have passed an examination successfully? Again, though like most Eastern nations, the Chinese show a greater aptitude for the acquisition of knowledge in arithmetic, algebra, and trigonometry, than is possessed by the average Western schoolboy, they can hardly be credited with the mathematical genius accorded to them by popular opinion. Their memory is not accretive; too often will they be found to have forgotten elementary principles, with which they were acquainted two or three years previously. As a rule they are lacking in initiative; they can repeat the same mathematical exercise provided the conditions are the same, but will be at a loss if a slight change is introduced requiring the exercise of independent thought. In spite, however, of these points of adverse criticism, Chinese, taking them all round, are more apt and willing pupils than European boys.
THE INSPECTORATE OF SCHOOLS.
The growth of education in this Colony has been unostentatious and slow. Like a germinating plant, it at first followed the lines of least resistance, but as it matured it became firmly rooted, and the buffets of conflicting circumstances have only proved beneficial. It is now hardy and weather-proof. As we have seen, the Government began by encouraging missionary efforts. It remained for a missionary to be the prime factor in rousing the Government to a full sense of its responsibility in the matter of taking a lead in the education of the Colony. Dr. James Legge, of Aberdeen, the celebrated Sinologue, Senior Missionary of the London Missionary Society, was at the time chairman of the Government Educational Board, and he was successful in inducing the Government to agree to the foundation of the Government Central School in Gough Street, and to the appointment of Mr. (later Dr.) Frederick Stewart, also of Aberdeen University, to be the first headmaster, combined with which office were the additional duties of Inspector of Schools. Mr. Stewart arrived in 1862. He had many difficulties to cope with, prominent amongst them being the indifference of the Chinese of those days to the advantages of Western education. In a few years, however, he had various Government schools established in sundry villages of the island and at Kowloon, in addition to two more important schools—Government Schools at Wantsai and Saiyingpun. As soon as Dr. Legge saw Mr. Stewart firmly seated in the saddle, he generously recommended to the Government the complete emancipation of the former from the Educational Board, and this was immediately granted. For nineteen years Dr. Stewart remained Inspector of Schools, during which time the number of Government and Grant-in-aid Schools swelled considerably, and the increase in school attendance and the extension of proficiency in English were thoroughly satisfactory. Attacks on the educational system were made during the Governorship of Sir J. Pope-Hennessy. Dr. Stewart first begged to be relieved of the onerous duties of Inspector of Schools, Dr. Eitel being at once appointed to the vacancy. In 1881, Dr. Stewart successfully made application for the post of Police Magistrate. He subsequently became Registrar-General, Acting Colonial Secretary, and, at the time of his death, in 1889, was Colonial Secretary. The Chinese evinced their high appreciation of Dr. Stewart's services by founding a scholarship at Queen's College in his memory. A large coloured window in a transept of St. John's Cathedral permanently records the sentiments of the general public.
Dr. Eitel was Inspector of Schools from 1879 to 1897. Education continued to flourish during his tenure of office, the chief features of which were the impetus given to female education, the removal of religious disabilities in schools, and the reduction in the number of school days annually necessary for the Government grant. The arrival of Sir George Bowen in 1883 was signalised by a burst of educational ardour. Scholarships were granted giving free education at the Central School to boys from the Government District Schools, and an annual Government scholarship of £200 a year for four years was founded to enable Hongkong boys to proceed to England for the further study required for a professional career. To the enterprising courage of Mr. C. J. Bateman was due the starting of the Cambridge Local Examinations in Hongkong. A year or two later Hongkong was made a centre for the Oxford Locals, with Mr. Wright as local secretary, Oxford proving more amenable than Cambridge in granting concessions to Hongkong on account of its great distance from England. The Chinese College of Medicine was inaugurated, and proved an unqualified success. With the exhibition of so much educational energy, a friendly spirit of rivalry was excited amongst the schools of the Colony that continues to the present day with very beneficial results. School sports, which previously had been confined to individual schools, were re-organised and amalgamated into one annual function known as the Hongkong Schools' Sports. Dr. Eitel spent considerable time and energy in the formation of a cadet corps in connection with all the leading schools. One combined and rather imposing general parade was held on the cricket ground, but, like most new ideas in Hongkong, it was doomed to early extinction. To the great grief of all the headmasters concerned Dr. Eitel succeeded during Sir William Robinson's regime in inducing the Government to abolish the Government scholarship to England, and the local free scholarships founded ten years previously. The latter alone have been restored.
On the retirement of Dr. Eitel in 1897, the Hon. Mr. A. W. Brewin (now Registrar-General) was for a brief period Inspector of Schools. He was followed by Mr. E. A. Irving, the present inspector, in 1901. The past six years have shown a great stimulus in education, especially during the short time that Sir Matthew Nathan ruled the Colony. In fact, it would appear just to say that of the three Governors who most bestirred themselves about educational matters—Sir J. Pope-Hennessy, Sir George Bowen, and Sir Matthew Nathan—the efforts of the last are the most likely to provide permanent benefit to the Colony. The school study of hygiene was, it is true, made part of imperial policy by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but it is no less true that its zealous adoption in Hongkong was due to the late Governor, while the institution of the evening Continuation Classes
