On the 22nd inst., at the prize-giving at Queen's College, at which he presided, H.B. the Governor again at some length dwelt on the importance of imparting a good English education to the pupils, and said that the English people have done in forty seconds what Shakespeare promised by the muth of Pack to—put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes "—by means of the telegraph, in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. He showed how, in travelling homewards whether by Suez Canal or by Canada, the English language was overywhere fluently spoken, and emphasised his previous declaration that Hongkong was "for ever going to be a British colony." Dr, Wright. the Head Master, said the School had profited largely by His Excellency's suggestions, and there had been a marked improvement in colloquial English, LIGHT DUES IN HONGKONG, The proposal of H.E. the Governor endorsed by the majority of the unofficial members to abolish the special Gap Rock Light Tax of 14 cent per ton—imposed at the suggestion of the shipping firms as a temporary source of revenue to pay the cost of constructing the Gap Rock Lighthouse—and to levy a permanent tax of cents per ton instead of the special tax and the ordinary one charging 1 cent: per ton, has elicited a very strong petition from the shipping Grms and agencies against it. is they are subj by the Chamber of Commerce, which has addressed
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.