Much has been said about the establishment of a Western school in Hsiangyang in accordance with the Peking programme. A teacher was sent up from Wuchang in the spring, but something must be lacking—either funds or energy and interest—for nothing has been done with the exception of giving out themes for examination once a month. At a pre~ liminary examination last week the students were invited to write essays on the military system of Japan, and on the advantages and disadvantages of representative government. This was something they were not quite prepared for. Several had recourse to the foreigner, some wishing to borrow a volume on history, others to discuss the strange topics that were entering into their examinations. Some of them might as well have been asked to prepare a paper on popular government on Mars, but then it is not yet two years ago, since the most
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.