IR, Herbert Phillips, H.M. Consul-General in Shanghai, who presented the prizes at the Speech Day occasion yesterday of the Cathedral School for Boys, urged parents present.to unite in pressing for support in the cause of providing sound educational facilities for British boys and girls in the Community in Shanghai. He assured them, that on his part, he keenly desired to assist in every way and if necessary would fully report the position to the British Government.
Mr. A. E, Seddon, chairman of the Committee of Management, who welcomed Sir Herbert to the gathering of pupils, parents and friends who filled to capacity the main auditorium.of the Masonic Hall, 1623. Avenue Road, gave interesting details of the financing in connection with the project of building new schoo] premises. Mr. P, W. Massey and his colleagues were thanked for their hard work in assisting in the smooth running óf the School during difficult months while a vote of thanks was unanimously passed for the masters of the School who had worked very hard indeed when it became necessary to remove from their premises a number of times owing to the hostilities.
In referring to the appeal made for $150,000, the sum, of which together With funds already in hand, would allow for building new premises for the school, Mr. Seddon said a total of $115,000 had been collected and of that, just under $100,000 had been deposited with a local bank. The remaining $15,000 had not actually been paid yet but were understood to be available when construction commenced.
Criticisms made last year when it was decided not to'convert the funds of the school into sterling, the Speaker answered by explaining that the Trustees, after having carefully considered the matter with their legal advisers, decided they were not allowed to make the conversion into a foreign currency as this would considered a gamble, notwithstanding the subsequent drop in the exchange.
The temporary.premises of the school, Mr. Seddon continued, were not ideal. Facilities for sports were particularly poor and the trustees had therefore decided to buy a piece of land' on Keswick Road about 200 yards away from Hungjao Road, con-much, some masters say too little while parents have divided views."
Educational Facilities Offered In speaking of the facilities offered at the Cathedral School, the speaker said there is no need to send a boy Home till he is ready to enter a Public School For those who desired to. seek. their livelihood here in China, it had often. been said that additional facilities should be made available so that pupils would remain in the school until they reach the age of eighteen, but to expect a boy at sixteen to do well if placed into business, was unreasonable and unfelt on the boy:
In commenting on the Boy Scout Troop of the Cathedral School, Mr. Matthews said they were doing well and that with the exception of those ioo young to be Cubs, every boy was a member of either the Cubs, the Scouts or the Sea Scouts.
"Mr. Mathews took occasion to comment that the habit of going on home leave and taking the children along was rather dotrimental to the children as often they returned without having looked at a cipline or of healthy tradition. The team. spirit is inculcated by games ahd'every great British school, and all present and past members thereof are proud, and rightly proud of its traditions. Though it may have been an exaggeration to state that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, there is no doubt that games as played in British public schools do produce the ideal type of men for positions of command and responsibility. If we do not produce or attempt to produce automations, if we do not aim in our schools to make every boy and girl -enter upon his or her -eareer with a stereotyped mentality, we nevertheless do attempt to teach a common standard of morality, of ethics, of sportsmanship and of gentlemanly conduct, And that is a heritage in which we shall continue to take pride as long as British schools continue to send into the world young men and women who can think clearly and constructively, but who nevertheless feel very definite obligations to their fellow subjects whether at work or at play, in war or in peace.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.