xxm EDUCATION 225 



wonders. The class-rooms are light and airy, and 

 sanitary arrangements of all kinds are as perfect as the 

 situation and nature of the buildings will allow. It is 

 to be regretted that they consist almost entirely 

 of wood and iron, and consequently are apt to get 

 very hot at mid-day. Important as it is to adults in 

 the tropics to live in stone or wooden houses, it is 

 doubly so in the case of children. We may feel pretty 

 certain that as funds permit the alteration will gradually 

 be made. The elementary education is in every way 

 excellent, and at the present day more is hardly to be 

 expected. Boarders are accepted, as far as space 

 permits, at a very moderate fee. The food is good 

 and plentiful, and the dormitories all that could be 

 desired. Games and recreations are looked after, and 

 the boys have a football team which could hold its own 

 with most private schools in England. The children 

 are periodically weighed, and judging by their appear- 

 ance are a fairly substantial lot. In a tropical climate 

 both sexes mature earlier than in England. This fact 

 leads to the necessity of an early age limit being 

 rigorously adhered to, and forms a further difficulty 

 with regard to higher education. The age limit for 

 boys is between twelve and thirteen, but in the case 

 of backward pupils a separate boarding house ac- 

 commodates them up to the age of fourteen. 



The problem provided by Eurasians grows in- 

 creasingly hard, and the difficulties are such as can 

 hardly be adequately realised in England. There 

 the colour question does not occur, and the great 

 barrier between black and white does not exist. 

 Coloured gentlemen go to our public schools and into 

 our Universities, they play games with us and share 

 our social intercourse. Rajahs' sons are courted by 



Q 



