XXIII 
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 
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