Jan, 10.
Tue special committee of inquiry which has been. appointed to re-consider the whole problem of education in the Settlement, has before it a task of profound importance. In the long run, the way in which it does its work and the policy it recommends will have a greater influence.upon the future welfare of the community, than almost any of the decisions on policy made by our governing body. An enlightened and _progressive education policy, based upon an adequate survey of existing conditions, and constructed With intelligent foresight as to the developments of the future, will conduce more to the peace and prosperity of Shanghai, than any other achievement in the field of administration. In spite of the present depression in trade, and the long continued unrest in China, there is no doubt that Shanghai is going to be one of the world's greatest industrial centres, and sooner or later the local government will have to cope with all the problems arising out of that development.. The child labour problem is only one of many, but now that the educa tion policy of the Setlement is under revision, it is time to ask what, if anything, can be done for the thousands of children employed in local factories. It would be unwise to nish into any big and expensive scheme of education, but it is certainly an opportune time. for. considering how a beginning can be made.
One of the chief objections to any reduction of the hours of child labour in local factories that there is nowhere for. the children to go. They are just as well off in the factory as in the slums in which they live when they are not working. In the United Kingdom, it was not until compulsory elementary education was instituted that the problem of child labour was really solved. Then it became impossible for em-. ployers to work little children for twelve hours a day, six days a week, because they. were compelled to attend school. With all its faults, the policy of compulsory education has more than justified itself, and not even the most extreme reactionary would suggest that the old state of. things.be resurrected and the. elementary:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.