The Straits Echo, Tuesday, 10 January 1928

Opening of New Free School

An Historic Ceremony

The new Free School buildings in Green Lane, which have been in the course of construction during the past three or four years, were officially declared open yesterday by the Hon. the Resident Councillor, Penang, in the presence of the Director of Education, S.S. and F.M.S. (the Hon. Mr. R.O. Winstedt, C.M.G., D.Litt.), members of the Legislative council, heads of Government Departments and the leading residents of Penang of all nationalities. It was indeed an epoch making event.

Besides the Hon. Mr. Scott, and the Hon. Mr. R.O. Winstedt there were Mrs. P.J. Sproule, the Hon. Mr. Palgrave Simpson and Mrs. Simpson, the Hon. Mr. Quah Beng Kee, O.B.E., the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. P.M. Robinson, the Hon. Mr. P.K. Nambyar, Mr. G.L. Hain, Mr. and Mrs. F.T. Kinder and Miss Kinder, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Fettes, Mr. and Mrs. N.A.M. Griffin, Mrs. H. Welham, Mr. Khoo Sian Ewe, the Rev. Keppel Garnier, Mr. Watson (Chief Inspector of Schools), Mr. M.H.M. Noordin, Dr. A.O. Merican, Dr. J. Emile Smith, Mr. Yeoh Cheang Aun, Mr. Lim Boon Haw, Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Abdul Cader, Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Buckwell, Mr. T. Rogers, Mr. C.R. Samuel, Mr. N.A. Sedwick, Mr. C.W.A. Sennett, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Pedlow, the Siamese Consul and Mrs. Varavadi, Mr. H.C. Bathrust and numerous others.

Formal Opening

By the time the Hon. Mr. Scott arrived the long verandah of the school was packed. Boys of the school lined up two sides of the portico. Mr. Scott was received by Mr. D.R. Swaine, Acting Headmaster, and then went to inspect the Guard-of-Honour of School Cadets, under the command of Capt. A.W. Frisby, and the Boys Scouts, under Mr P.G. Boyd.

Mr. Scott then returned to the portico and received a key from the hands of the Deputy Colonial Engineer, Mr. F.T. Kinder, with which he formally opened the building.

Assembled in the main hall, with the principal officials and guests on the stage, proceedings commenced with the playing of the National Anthem.

Mr. Swaine, Acting Headmaster, then spoke as follows; Sir, -- On the programme I appear responsible for giving a short history of the school. I have thought it preferable to have my notes together with some notes written by Mr. Pinhorn in 1916 printed and distributed. I shall not therefore delay these proceedings by reading this account. I need hardly say that I regard it as a very great honour to be acting as Headmaster of the school at the commencement of this new era in its history and I trust that the gates which were closed on a glorious part have this day been opened to a more brilliant future.

Messages Of Congratulation

Messages of congratulation have been received from H.E. Major-General C. Van Straubenzee, the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, the Hon. the Resident Councillor, the Hon. Mr. E.C.H. Wolffe, the Hon. the Director of Education, Mr. G. Hall, Mr. A. Voules, Dr. Wu Lien Teh, the Hon. Mr. Quah Beng Kee, Mr. W. Hargreaves, Mr. R.H. Pinhorn, Mr. W. Hamilton and Mr. F. Sands.

The following had sent telegrams of congratulation: Dr. Wu Lien Teh, (Calcutta), Hon. Mr. Peel (Woking), Mr. Honnell (Vice-chancellor, Hong Kong University), (Hong Kong), Mr. Hamilton, (Brighton), Dr. Mustapha b. Osman, (Hong Kong), Mr. M.A. Noordin, (Kelantan), Mr. Lim Paik Hong (Trengganu), Old Frees, Kedah, (Alor Star), Mr. Zainul Abidin (on behalf Old Frees), (Sungai Patani), Mr. Ooi Chye Hock, (Johore), Capt. N.M. Hashim, (Parit Buntar), Mr Lim Eu Goh, (Bangkok), Mr. Goh Sam Eong, (Bentong, Pahang), Dr. Saw Ah Choy, (Taiping), Mr. Foo Wha Cheng, (Ipoh), Mr. Yeoh Cheow Beng, (Singapore), Mr. Saw Ghee Hong, (Kuala Lumpur), Mr. Leong Hoe Yeng, (Kuala Lumpur), Mr. Davies, Victoria Institution, (Kuala Lumpur), Che Ismail b. Haji Puteh, (Kulim), Mr. Lim Chong Hum, (Tveradja, Java), Mr. Ooi Hun Teong, (Kapitan China), (Medan).

“To the distinguished gentlemen who have sent us these messages of congratulation, to the loyal old boys who have sent telegrams, to all well-wishers and helpers of the school and to those who are gracing this opening with their presence, on behalf of the school I express my sincerest and warmest thanks.” (Applause).

Dr. Winstedt’s Speech

The Hon. Mr. R.C. Winstedt, Director of Education, S.S. and F.M.S. next addressed the gathering as follows: It gives me great pleasure to be here to-day the see the Resident Councillor open the old Free School in these new buildings. Penang sometimes thinks it is ill-treated by Government, sometimes envies its younger bustling sister, Singapore. But it need not feel the inferiority complex today. This building is the finest school building in Malaya, and I should like to congratulate the architect on his design. There is one other matter on which I should like publicly to convey my congratulations. I should like to congratulate the architect on his design. There is one other matter on which I should like publicly to convey my congratulations. I should like to congratulate Mr. Swaine and his staff on winning both the 1927 Queen’s Scholarships for the Free School. Some years ago when at last the Free School was taken over by Government, pessimists foretold an end of its brilliant career, they talked of frequent transfers of staff, of red tape and all the other claptrap pessimists love. Well, Mr. Cheeseman was on the staff for years, gave of his best to the school, and had its interests very near his heart, and Mr. Cheeseman tells me that in his opinion the school has never had so good a staff as it has to-day. Certainly it has never had a better building or larger funds. And I the wicked soldier at the centre of the Education Department’s tangle of red tape have had no complaints that the Free School is more restricted in its activities now than it was under the old Committee.

I have said that Penang folk need not suffer from the inferiority complex over this school. Nor need they feel it over the general standard of education in the settlement. It is apparently higher here than anywhere else in Malaya. The reasons for this are debatable. My friends the Christian Brothers who have schools throughout the Peninsula declare that Penang boys win the Queen’s Scholarships because unlike the urchins of that immoral cesspool, Singapore, they keep themselves unspotted from the cinema and other such amusements. I have even heard it said that there was one home-keeping Queen’s Scholar who had to be shown the way to Weld’s Quay! I doubt that story but on the whole I fancy that the people of Penang lead quieter and staider lives than the people of the larger port and bring up their children to go willingly to school. We must not forget however that the Free School have had a succession of able headmasters like Mr. Hargreaves and Mr. Pinhorn to frame a continuous policy and a succession of zealous form masters like Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Eckersall to train its pupils.

The Three Main Problems

Mr. Swaine had related the history of this school. An administrator’s chief concern with history is to tear from its pages lessons for the present and the future. We have three main educational problems in Malaya, one moral and intellectual, one practical. We give probably the best English education in Asia. Colonel Needham, who reported for the Medical Council of Great Britain, thinks so. But ideally we ought to teach children in their own language till the age of 12 or 13, letting them learn English as a foreign language up to that age. However, if we tried to do that, I am assured by headmasters that their pupils’ knowledge of English would suffer incalculably. Nor is it practicable for us to teach all the vernaculars of China, India, Ceylon and Japan: It would not be possible to get enough trained teachers and without trained teachers children’s minds would be dulled and retarded.

The second great problem of education in Malaya is the provision of technical education. A start is being made in this direction. Malaya will soon, I hope, have a technical college and an agricultural college, both of them near the capital of the Colony’s wealthy younger sister, the Federated Malay States, but both open to Straits boys who have passed the Senior Cambridge. Singapore is to have a trade school for boys who have studied only the vernacular or left an English school without reaching the secondary forms. I trust that the next considerable educational work provided for Penang also will be a Trade School. I am glad to think that sports and changed circumstances have modified the supercilious attitude of the East to manual labour.

Higher Education

The third main local problem is higher education, and on this may I present myself to you as a beggar, perhaps so far as Penang is concerned I have been rather an ‘absent-minded beggar’ not as persistent or clamant as I might have been. Raffles College is nearing completion. It is a noble building on a noble site. The College syllabus should be published in March or April. The College will open in June. We want more money. We want double the endowment we have to-day if it is ever to have a staff of Professors and Readers and Lecturers worthy of a University. Especially, therefore, we want money to establish professorships. It costs about $300,000 to endow one professorship in perpetuity but I shall be very happy to take it by instalments. Our next want is more scholarships. It will cost roughly $1,000 a year to maintain a boy or girl at the College. That means a capital sum of only $20,000 or thereabouts. There must be many sitting here before me who have had their sons and daughters educated in the Government schools of this country for a mere trifle compared with what parents of their means would have to pay in England.

Appeal For Funds

There must be many parents sitting here before me who could sign a cheque for $20,000 without any self sacrifice. If they cannot afford so much, $2,000 will defray the initial cost of the library of English literature, $2,000 for the cost of a History section, $2,000 for the cost of a Science section, $2,000 for the cost of a Mathematics section. And each of those sections of the College library will be named after the donor who pays $2,000 for it. I appeal to-day to the people of Penang, who have shown as much appreciation of education as any people in Malaya. I ask them not to let Raffles College, the centre of Malaya’s highest education, languish for lack of funds. I ask them to form a Committee again as they did before to collect fresh funds for the College to which their sons and daughters will go after leaving schools like the school we open to-day. They will be serving the interests of their children and of those that come after them. They will be enabling the citizens of this settlement to compete with the world of the future in the battle of life. (Applause).

The Resident Councillor

The Hon. Mr. Ralph Scott, who spoke next, at the outset said he wished to endorse what Mr. Winstedt had said with regard to the generosity of Penang towards the Raffles Institution. He did it with the full assurance that Penang would benefit more than any other place by that generosity. Mr. Scott next referred to a few points of the school’s past history, and said he had no doubt that the change to Green Lane would prove equally successful. The site selected might be thought out of the way but just as the school in Farquhar Street, he felt certain that the new school would be surrounded with buildings in time to come. Fine buildings did not make a school: other factors were the staff and boys. Mr. Scott paid a high tribute to the present efficient staff and said he hoped the boys will carry on the high tradition of that school.

Dr. K.L. Teng

Dr. Koh Lip Teng, Queen’s Scholar, 1894, said it was an honour to speak on an occasion like that. The Penang Free School was the oldest educational Institution in British Malaya. One hundred and eleven years ago it was founded and, like all great things, began in a humble way. From the time of Mr. Hutchings, to the time Mr. Hargreaves took over, was a period of steady growth and development for the school; from the time of Mr. Hargreaves to the present date was a period of great prosperity to the school, a period characterised by records of great successes unparalleled in the history of education in British Malaya.

In conclusion Dr. Teng read out the following gifts made to the school in celebration of the opening that day:

1. Capital sums to endow Scholarships:- $3,000 from the Trustees of the Cheah Chim Yean Estate; $2,000 from the Estate of Choong Cheng Kean per Messrs. Choong Lye Hock & Choong Lye Hin; $1,200 from Lim Liew Saik Neoh (Mrs. Choong Lye Hock).
2. From Mr. Khoo Sian Ewe a capital sum of $1,300 to be used as follows:- (a) $1,000 for books for the School Library; (b) $300 to endow a School Prize for Chinese.
3. From the Kedah Old Frees per Mr. M.I. Merican, Mr. Sheriff, Che Kassim and Tuan Syed Omar, a capital sum of $400 to endow a “Kedah Old Frees Malay Prize”.
4. A capital sum of $200 to endow prizes from each of the following: (1) Old Frees’ Association, 1^st school prize; (2) Dr. Ong Huck Chye, Form Prize to be known as the Ong Hun Siew Prize; (3) Mr. Ong Huck Eng, Form Prize to be known as the Khoo Kwee Kee Neoh Prize; (4) Subscribers to the Hamilton Fund, Prize to be known as the Hamilton Mathematics Prize; (5) Trustees of the Estate of Tye Kee Yuen, English Essay Prize; (6) Old Frees of Young Muslim Union per Mr. Hamid Khan, Prize to be known as the Y.M.U. Mathematics Prize; (7) Local Masters who have served under Mr. Pinhorn (per Mr. Koay Thean Chin), Prize to be known as the Pinhorn Eng. Literature Prize; (8) Dr. Lim Guan Cheng, School Latin Prize; (9) Old Frees of Penang Malay Association (per Dr. A.O. Merican), Prize to be known as the Penang Malay Association Science Prize; (10) Mr. H.H. Abdoolcader, School Geography Prize; (11) Mr. Lim Keong Lay, School Science Prize; (12) Mr. Khoo Heng Kok, School History Prize; (13) Dr. C.Y. Wu, School Hygiene Prize; (14) Mr. Khoo Sian Tan, Form Prize.

Other gifts: (1) Mr. Koh Leok Hup, Challenge Cup for yearly competition between School and the Old Boys; (2) Mr. M.H.M. Noordin, Badminton Challenge Cup; (3) Mr. Lim Kean Leong, Furniture including marble-topped tables for School Tuck Shop; (4) Teh Sey Leong, Honours Boards for School Hall; (5) Boon Pharmacy (per Mr. Chew Boon Ee), Medicine Cabinet.

Vote Of Thanks

Mr. Cheeseman proposed a vote of thanks, thanking in the first place the generous donors whose gifts had just been announced. The Old Boys Association, and Dr. Ong Huck Chye, in particular, was to be congratulated in arranging for that admirable commemoration of the Opening. In connection with those buildings Mr. Cheeseman mentioned the following who had assisted in one way or another: Dr. Winstedt, Mr. Wolff, Mr. Ralph Scott, members of the Legislative Council, Gammon & Co., Mr. Kinder, Mr. D. Ward, Mr. Ogle and Mr. Watson, Chief Inspector of Schools. The driving force behind this great undertaking however had been Mr. R.H. Pinhorn to whose foresightedness, determination, and personality, the Free School during the past 20 years had maintained its high position. The school had been reaping the harvest of Mr. Pinhorn’s efforts.

In conclusion Mr. Cheeseman said: “Boys of the Penang Free School! My last words on this memorable occasion I address to you. You have entered upon a goodly heritage. You belong to a school rich in traditions, inspiring in record, wonderful in possibilities. See to it that you prove true to your high trust.”

Proceedings terminated with three cheers for the Resident Councillor after which a tour of the buildings was made.