was His Excellency's own idea. These classes have proved so successful that they have recently been re-christened "Hongkong Technical College," and made a sub-department of the Inspectorate of Schools, with an Advisory Committee, the chairman of which, the Hon. Mr. A. W. Brewin, has done yeoman service during the past eighteen months. Besides being an active member of the League of the Empire, connected with whose agency is visual instruction by lectures and magic lantern exhibitions on the subject of the British Empire, the Inspector of Schools, Mr. Irving, has been particularly successful in promoting in the Government District Schools the improvement of English conversation by the Chinese, and in urging throughout the Colony the acceptance of vernacular instruction on a Western, as contrasted with a Chinese, system.
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS.
A brief reference must now be made to the various Hongkong educational establishments not alluded to above. Queen's College will be dealt with separately below. Of the oldest, St. Paul's College, the Diocesan School, St. Joseph's College, the Italian Convent, L'Asile de la Sainte Enfance, the Berlin and Basel, and the Baxter Girls' Missions at once claim attention. The work of the London Mission in early times has already been referred to, and still briskly flourishes. St. Paul's College, originally intended for a missionary training school, has reverted to its purpose, after various side attempts at educating the British population. The Diocesan School, at first a mixed school, devoted itself to the exclusive education of boys some twenty years ago. Its school building has been considerably enlarged, and its educational successes have been conspicuous. The Roman Catholic School of St. Saviour's migrated to St. Joseph's in about 1880. A new storey has recently been added to the building, in itself evidence of the success which marks the generous unpaid zeal of the Christian Brothers, who, in a truly catholic spirit, admit Jews, Turks, Heretics, and Infidels to the benefit of their high-class education. The Italian Convent, L'Asile de la Sainte Enfance, Berlin, Basel and Baxter Missions, are some of the oldest institutions for girls; the first two mentioned proving, also, of educational service to the community at large, and the last having risen from an enrolment of eleven in 1883 to its present number of sixty. Amongst more recently started schools we must note the Belilios Public School for Girls, the Diocesan School for Girls, Ellis Kadoorie School (now called Hongkong College), St. Stephen's College for the sons of the better-class of Chinese, and, at Kowloon, the Home for Girls and a Blind School. Outside the Education Department are a number of private schools where a good education is provided in English and Portuguese In this category are also the Kaifong schools, promoted by the native gentry, for the study of vernacular by the poorer classes; and schools for the study of English, endowed by the liberality of gentlemen like Messrs. Ho Kom-tong and the late Chan He-wan. To the names of these gentlemen as public benefactors should be added those of the late Mr. E. R. Belilios, Mr. Ellis Kadoorie, and Mr. Ho Tung, who have built schools referred to passim above.
Hongkong is a centre for the London University Matriculation, the Oxford Local Examinations, and the Royal College of Music, and, on leaving the Colony, its students have distinguished themselves in England and the United States of America. It may, therefore, be admitted that, however sui generis Hongkong may have been thirty years ago, it can now lay claim to have entered the educational comity of nations.
The following table of statistics shows the steady growth of educational progress in the Colony, remarkable in the case of female education, which was, at first, naturally opposed to Chinese ideas:—
| Year. | No. of Schools. |
Scholars. | Girls only. |
Percentage of Girls. |
| 1866 | 16 | 1,870 | 45 | 2·4 |
| 1876 | 41 | 2,922 | 543 | 18·5 |
| 1886 | 90 | 5,844 | 1,683 | 28·8 |
| 1896 | 120 | 7,301 | 2,702 | 37·0 |
| 1906 | 85 | 7,642 | 3,289 | 43·0 |
QUEEN'S COLLEGE.—Like the Royal College at Mauritius and the Harrison College at Barbados, Queen's College, Hongkong, is an entirely separate Government department, independent of the Inspectorate of Schools. Its history, therefore, demands individual treatment.
When Dr. Stewart in 1862 opened the Government Central School in Gough Street, that district, though in close proximity to the Queen's Road, was semi-rural, being occupied by villa residences, interspersed with trees
