From information—received. it seems improbable that even minute fraction of the Indemnity will be spent on the education of British children, either by establishing scholarships to assist neceisirous parents to send their children te schools im England, or by founding a school, or schools, for their benefit in China. If a final decision, on the point has beer reached it may justly be pro' against, and the protest could be based on the ground of fair dealing and of sound policy.
From one point of view the Indemnity may.be- regarded as a Fenalty for a gross act of inter-rational treachery which resulted in the deaths of over a hundred Eritish subjects, nearly a third of them being children, under circumstances in many instances of rome barbarity and unspeakable ignifies. China has presumably repented. At any rate the penalty is to be remitted, and the money sv obtained is to be spent largely, not entirely, on the education of hinese boys and girls. Im view of the occurrences that led to the imposition of the penalty. surely it is but right and just that the educational advantages to he garned should not be entirely one-sided; and that British boys and girls should also participate to a reasonable extent.
The policy that dictates the decision, if irrevocable, is, I shall always maintain, not only unfair, Lut also unsound and improvident, both im local and in general British interests. For it does not require rutch foresight for anyone engaged in the education. of British children fo predict that presently we. shall have a swan of Chinese youths, "ducated in reality at British ex: pense, better equipped for business and professional careers than their local competitors of British birth. And to people of ordinary intelligence the results of that policy should be as obvious as they certainly are inevitable. When all is said and done, wherein lies the mutual benefit of a lop-sided av-
The question of the reservation of a small fraction of the Indemnity for the purpose of founding a Bri-h school for senior boys in a suitable environment, was, I under: stand, referred to the Educational Committee of the Associated British Chambers of Commerce at thei:
ent Conference. That Committee was composed mainly of representatives of Hongkong University and of missionary societies engaged in educational enterprises for the benefit. of "the dear Chinese," tke more intelligent of whom must be tickled to death over the whole business. If on that Committee there was a, single British schoo!- nutter, or anyone else, entitled thorized to put in a word on
crying educational need, T have yet behalf of the British boy and his to learn hig name. With the _exer-exe of a little intelligent anticipat tion their decision, if they reached one, might have been taken as a foregone conclusion!
Education at. the best of times is a dry-as-dust subject: it becomes more interesting when it leads to the accumulation of dollars. But Jet us face the bald facts of the sifuafiom: (1) To-day in the Far East there is no school for senior British boys, in suitable surroundings, offering education on typically Britsh lines: (2) A number of British Loys in this part of the world are rot being properly educated: (3) The parents of a larger number, who can ill afford it, for lack of Iccal facilities, choose the lesser of two evils and send their children to England for higher education-(4) In 1920 the Eliot Committee sitting in London, recommended the encouragement of British schools in China: (5) The Boxer Indemnity is to be remitted for purposes that are "mutually beneficial' to the two nations: (6) Over £11,000,000 is to be spent, largely on Chinese
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.