Mr. Conger to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Peking, May 10,
1902.
No. 982.]
Sir: I am greatly pleased to learn from your
No. 494 of March 29, that Congress has made provision for ten student
interpreters at this legation. This is a very important enactment, and
one which should prove in the near future of great value to diplomatic
and consular work here.
A much stronger inducement for capable men would have been furnished if
this could have been an assured route to entry into the consular service
in China.
The law is not very specific as to requirements, duties, etc., but
regulations by the Department or later legal enactments can supply what
is lacking.
I inclose herewith copy of the regulations under which Great Britain
appoints her student interpreters. It will be observed that the
Government pays their passage to their posts; and I add that the
necessary houses are furnished for them, and a Chinese teacher for each
is paid by the Government at a cost of about $6 to $9 gold per month.
The United States ought to do no less. It will be necessary for us to
build a house for them.
The students during the first two years give their entire time to study,
then their salaries are increased; and, continuing their studies, they
are put to work as assistant interpreters or clerks at the legation or
consulates, and later made vice-consuls or consuls, or Chinese
secretaries.
The young men ought to be of sound health and constitution, of sturdy
moral character and good habits, and at least with such educational
equipment as is furnished by our ordinary high schools. They ought,
during the first two years, to be put under the care and authority of
the head of the mission, much as boys in our schools and colleges at
home are under the control of superintendents and presidents. Should not
more than five of them come out during the next year, some small Chinese
houses on the tract marked “D” on the legation-quarter map could, with a
moderate amount of repairs, be utilized for them.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Student interpreters for China, Japan, and
Siam.
The following are the [British] regulations under which candidates
will be appointed:
- 1.
- The office of student interpreter has been instituted to
supply the consular service in China, Japan, and Siam with
persons versed in the languages of those countries and
otherwise competent to discharge consular duties.
- 2.
- Student interpreters are selected by open competition
after examination by the
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civil service commissioners, who will
give notice in the newspapers beforehand of such
examination.
- 3.
- The student interpreters are to devote themselves in the
first place to the study of the language of the country to
which they are appointed, and in the next place they are to
qualify themselves generally for the public service, but
they must clearly understand that their retention and
advancement will depend entirely on the ability which they
may show after their arrival at their destination and on
their general steadiness and good conduct.
- 4.
- The salary of the student interpreters is fixed at the
rate of £200 a year, commencing ten days previously to the
date of their departure from England. A passage to their
post is provided for them at the public expense, but they
are required to enter into a bond of £300 with a sufficient
surety for the repayment of £150 in the event of resignation
or discharge from the service within five years. The
successful candidates are expected to proceed to their
destination as soon after their appointment as they can make
arrangements for doing so.
- 5.
- Candidates must be natural-born subjects of His Majesty.
Persons not actually born within the United Kingdom, or born
within the United Kingdom of parents not born therein, will
only be allowed to compete by special permission of the
secretary of state. Candidates must be unmarried and must
not be under 18 or over 24 years of age at the date of
examination, with an extension of five years in favor of
persons who have served under the foreign office
continuously from a time when they were within the above
limits of age. Persons who may be serving, or who may have
served, in the militia, the imperial yeomanry, the honorable
artillery company, or the volunteers, may deduct from their
actual age any time spent on actual military service, such
time being reckoned by the number of days for which they
received army pay. Candidates must be of sound constitution,
possessed of good sight, and physically qualified for
service in tropical climates. They will be called upon to
undergo a medical examination to test these points, which
will take place after the result of the literary examination
has been ascertained. All candidates who have not been
vaccinated within the last seven years must undergo an
operation before leaving England.
- 6.
- The examination will be in the following subjects, viz:
- Obligatory.—Handwriting and
orthography, arithmetic (including vulgar and
decimal fractions); English composition.
- Candidates failing in any of these subjects will
be informed of their failure as soon as possible,
and will not proceed further with the
examination.
- Optional.—Precis,
geography, Euclid (Books I to IV), Latin, French,
German; the elements of the criminal law; the
principles of British mercantile and commercial law
relating to (1) shipping, (2) negotiable
instruments, bills of exchange, and prommissory
notes; (3) contracts for the carriage of goods; (4)
contracts for marine insurance, bottomry, and
respondencia; (5) contracts with seamen; (6) the
doctrines of stoppage in transit and lien.
- (A fee of £4 is required from each candidate
attending the examination.)
Foreign office, November, 1901.
