It was not an altogether unexpected pleasure to read the interesting comments of Sir Havilland de Sausmarez on this subject. He is well known in Hongkong, and his speeches are always worth reading. In the report, of this speech day, the announcement was made that Sir Havilland presided, and that fact impressed itself on the mind before the news of the new scholarship. Of course every man selects the profession which he likes best; or, if by some mischance he does not like it, he changes to some-more congenial, if he is sensible. His marked success, in graph pling with the technicalities of the law, proves that Sir Havilland chose his life work and is happy in it. His great experience with human nature entitles him to give advice. His remarks on this speech day contain the words of wisdom which might be expected. In some of the Chinese houses one visits. some of the College will the practical advice of Sir Havilland. If they do so we may find, on the scrolls, some Chinese characters which will be translated as follows "Learn, not only how to do things, bat how to give oneself for the good of the family, then for the town, then for the province, the country, and lastly for the whole world."
And again, "Think not only of the dollar; there are other as well. Dollars will come to those who work properly."
These are sentiments which commend themselves to everyone who hears or reads them; but they are 80 often overlooked, or forgotten, in China. It is well for us all to be frequently reminded of them.
Two days after Sir Havilland had said these things in Shanghai, Henry May told the scholars Queen's College, Hongkong, that the great bar to progress in China lies in the conceit of the Chinese themsel His remarks have been criticized, but there was, as ual, sound common sense in what e said. He probably meant that it was the innate pride of the governing class, and their ignorance of the world in which they live, due to the so-called' "glorious isolation" of the past, which has led to the incapacity and weakness of the Government of the. country during the last four or five decades.
Thoughtful people believe that improved facilities for Western education, and better means of communication, in the country itself, will at any rate remove that ignorance of the ways of other which is deplored by all true friends of China. It is because the Lester Scholarship will allow pupils from the Medhurst College to have the benefit of education at a British University that it is a particularly noteworthy event.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.