Education.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 245, 29 July 1876, Page 7

Education.

EDUCATION BOARD. The usual monthly meeting of the Education Board was held on Wednesday. There were present—Mr. Pharazyn (in the chair), Messrs. Andrew, Beetham, Gisborne, .Bunny, and Toomath. BANK OVERDRAFT. It was reported that the bank overdraft was reduced to £589 4s. lid., and that there were rates overdue sufficient to cover that amount. HIGHER EDUCATION. The report of the committee on higher education, as already published in the New Zealand Times, was adopted, and ordered to be printed and circulated. SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION. The following report was adopted : "1. The committee appointed to consider what primary school accommodation should be provided for the city of Wellington and town of Wanganui, recommend the following city schools for Wellington :—(1.) One large boy3' school, Te Aro, with class-room or rooms for say 550 ; and detached infant school for boys, 200. (2). One large girls' school, Te Aro, consisting of the present Buckle-street schools, 300 • and detached infant school for girls, 150. (3.) One boys' school, Thorndon, with class-room or rooms, 300 ; and detached infant school for boys, 100. (4.) One girls' school, Thorndon, with class-room or rooms, 200 ; and detached infant school for girls, 100. (5 ) The Terrace school for boys, 170. Total, 207 °- i n n "2. For Wanganui we recommend —(1.) One large boys' school, with class-room or rooms, and infant school for boys. (2.) One large girls' school, with class-room or rooms, and infant school for girls. " 3. Of this accommodation there are already provided the Te Aro girls' school (except the infant department), and the Terrace school for Wellington city ; and the boys' and girls' school for Wanganui, except the infant departments and the girls' class-room. "4. Your committee do not think it possible, or even advisable, for your Board to provide the whole proposed accommodation at once ; but whatever is done should form a part of an efficient and complete scheme. "5. We would suggest the following as the order in which the work should be undertaken in the city of Wellington:— (a.) Sites obtained for the Te Aro and Thorndon boys' schools. (&.) Erection of boys' infant schools on these sites : the Thorndon infant school to be used for some time as an infant school for boys and girls, (c.) A site obtained very near the present Buckle-street school, and an infant school for girls erected thereon. The pi-esent Buckle-street school could then become one large girls' school, and the present Te Aro school a boys' school. The infant schools, by relieving existing schools, would now supply the immediate demand for increased accommodation, (d.) A site obtained for girls' school, Thorndon, and a girls' school erected thereon, (e.) Large boys' schools erected on the sites first obtained for the purpose. (/.) Necessary class-rooms added, {g.) An infant school for the Thorndon girls' school built. (h.) A teacher's residence erected on or near each of the free school sites which form the city sohool property. "6. In Wanganui the boys' infant school Bhould be built as soon as possible, and used for a time as an infant school for boys and girls. The present Wanganui site is very central and suitable, and it is also large enough for all requirements. The boys' school will need certain small aterations and repairs. Afterwards the girls' infant school and necessary class-rooms could be built. "7. Considering the extent of the work to be undertaken by your Board, representing as it does school accommodation and playground for 1600 children, in addition to that for 470 already provided; and knowing the importance now attached by every progressive community to a complete primary school organisation, we trust your Board will meet with public assistance, and that schools will be put up which will be a credit to the city. We feel sure that every community must sooner or later realise the fact that, as nothing is more important than the education of all classes for the general wellbeing of the State, so also nothing is more important for the physical development of the nation than that the common homes of the youth of the nation should be perfect in every sanitary point of view. It is strange then that in the city of Wellington large reserves have been set apart for hospitals and lunatic asylumns, but as yet there is not a rood of land available for a primary State school. Portions of the Armed Constabulary reserve and of the Markethouse reserve would make suitable school sites for Te Aro schools ; and portions of the reclaimed land, between the General Government offices and Pipitea Point, and of the old Hospital reserve, would make excellent sites for Thorndon schools." CHURCH SCHOOLS. Resolutions from the vestries of St. Peter's and St. Paul's were received, agreeing to connection with the Board on the old conditions, but pointing out the necessity for certain repairs, which the Board authorised to be seen to at once. CATHOLIC SCHOOL AT WANGANUI. A letter was received from the Roman Catholic school at Wanganui, declining to continue their connection with the Board if placed on the same footing as the Church of England schools. SCHOOL ENDOWMENTS. A letter was received from His Honor the Superintendent, enclosing a schedule of 20,000 acres of land reserved for educational purposes. GRANTS IN AID. Applications from Grey town and Masterton were received for gravelling the playgrounds. The Board decided to contribute one-third of the cost, the settlers to find the remainder.

HUTT SCHOOL. Tenders were ordered to be called for converting the old Hutt school into a teacher's residence, the new school being ready for occupation. The finance committee were authorised to accept tenders according to their discretion. TERRACE SCHOOL. Complaint having been made as to the destruction of the Board's property in respect to the Terrace school, the Secretary was instructed to lay the matter before the Inspector of Police, in order to prevent occurrences of the kind in future. RELIEF. The Board decided to grant a sum of £lO towards the fund being raised for the benefit of Mr. DixOn, a late Government teacher, who is disabled by paralysis, and has a wife and family. OTHER BUSINESS. A good deal of routine business having no particular public interest was then disposed of, and the Board adjourned till next clay at 11 o'clock. REPORTS ON NATIVE SCHOOLS. (Prom the New Zealand Times.) The summary which we publish in another column of the reports of inspecting officers of native schools, will be perused with interest by all who are able to rightly estimate the advantages of such institutions. From these we gather the cheering information that, in various parts of the colony, many hundred of Maori children of both sexes" are receiving a sound elementary English education, that a large number of them have made considerable progress in a knowledge of the English language and literature, that the pupils are adopting our national games and pastimes; and, above all, that the discipline and training of the schools is producing habits of cleanliness and an improved demeanor, not only in the scholars themselves, but also in their parents and associates. The salutary influence thus exercised is strikingly illustrated by the anxiety expressed in very many remote native settlements for the establishment of more schools, and by the readiness of the parents and friends of the children in subscribing from their limited means considerable sums of money for the building of houses and teachers' residences, and by the gift of suitable sites. The native schools are as yet only the germs of what, under judicious management, they are capable of developing into. They are struggling sturdily through a variety of difficulties which time only can remove, but which may promote their future vigor and utility. What they require is a fostering care and encouragement which shall" spur on the teachers and pupils alike to renewed efforts, until the whole of the young of the native race are attracted to these schools, and the prejudice which still lingers in the minds of a few against innovation may be overcome. This was well recognised by his Excellency the Governor during his recent visit to the native districts in company with Sir Donald McLban, when his Excellency manifested such deep interest in the welfare of the native schools as to personally examine the scholars, entering with genuine zest into the difficulties and trials of the situation, and, with that simple grace which sits so naturally on the English scholar and gentleman, establishing perfect sympathy and ease between himself and his class. This is preeminently the age of education. At no period in the world's history has the old saw that "knowledge is power " been more applicable than now. A modern writer has well said: '' According as this intellectual nutriment is administered it becomes the germ of happiness or misery to the human race;" and another has said that "ignorance is the parent of crime." The missionary and the coloniser find their chief obstacles in a huge barrier of prejudice and mental darkness, which only time and patience can overcome and dissipate. There is a species of ignorance which is hereditary, which has blended itself with the very temperament of races, and can only be removed by the tedious process of introducing new phases of thought, and by a gradual moral regeneration, just as the physician by patient skill eradicates some obstinate disease of the physical constitution. Mero differences of race or color are not so formidable to the evangelist and the coloniser, as the accumulated prejudices of temperament and habit. The language of a people, their peculiar phases of thought, are the first obstacles that lie in the path of the missionary and the pioneer of colonisation. The Romans in their greatest days of conquest never lost sight of this grand principle. The language and the institutions of Rome followed, if they did not accompany, the triumphant march of her armies. In modern times the observance of this practice has been the main source of that wonderful success which has attended the colonising efforts of the Anglo-Saxon race, it has been the cement in that grand structure which the world's greatest Empire, on which "the sun never sets," has built up and is consolidating. It forms no part of our present purpose to examine how far some departure from this historical lesson has tended to complicate and delay the civilisation of the

Maori race inhabiting these islands. It has been frequently said that a great blunder was committed at the outset in adopting the Maori language as the medium of missionary effort, and as the instrument of engrafting upon the natives those institutions which are the growth of centuries, and an intelligent knowledge of which cannot be conveyed in the rude dialect of a people long sunk in barbarism. It has been contended that our language should first have supplanted that of the Maori, and gradually brought the native mind into that communion of thought and sentiment which would have .prepared the way for free intercourse, and smoothed the process of fusion. That there is truth in those arguments cannot be gainsaid, but England need go no further than Wales or Ireland for striking examples of the difficulties of carrying this theory into practice. The mistake, if such it is, so far as New Zealand is concerned, was committed long ago, and the present administrator .of native affairs had to make the best of circumstances as he found them. What concerns us now is the present and the future, for which there is abundant ground of hope. Whatever may have been the errors of our earliest colonising efforts, the work is ■ now characterised by a spirit of patience and enlightenment. It is to the establishment of native schools, which has already been attended with so great advantage, that we may look forward for the ultimate success of that policy by the aid of which it is hoped the great problem of fusing the two races may be worked out to a successful solution. So far, be it remarked, in almost every instance wherever the civilised European has come into conflict with the barbarian, it has been fatal to the existence of the latter ; the weak has dwindled away and disappeared before the strong ; and the result has been confessedly humiliating to our boasted enlightenment and Christianity. Bearing this in mind, the problem which is being worked out in New Zealand assumes an importance and a magnitude which cannot be measured by any mere considerations of the numbers involved, or the comparatively insignificant area to which it is confined. It becomes, in fact, an experiment of worldwide interest and application. Should the civilising efforts which are now being made in this country happily be crowned with success, it may form an important, landmark in the history of modern colonisation. The experiment would succeed under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, and would demonstrateperhaps for the first time in the history of the world —the fatal fallacy of a deeplyrooted idea that by the operation of some mysterious law of nature the dark skin and the barbarian are doomed to die off before the advance of the white and the civilised —an idea which has too often furnished an excuse for deeds of cruelty and oppression, and produced the fulfilment of its own predictions. To indulge in hopes of that nature may to many appear extravagant and Utopian, but greater effects have resulted from smaller causes, and grander problems have been successfully worked out under circumstances of greater difficulty, in theatres much smaller than New Zealand. The true colonist, casting his memory back to what has been achieved in less than a generation, can also look hopefully forward to the perhaps not remote future when the country of his adoption—felicitously termed the "Britain of the South" —may be the focus of a commercial power and civilisation radiating over a vast portion of the Southern hemisphere, and influencing the destinies of nations yet unborn, in regions yet unexplored by the European traveller. It is to the education of the native race, to the fruition of those plans which are the result of long experience and peculiar skill, not to temporary expedients and crude theories, hastily evolved amidst political turmoil and party strife, and embodied in technical Acts of Parliament which the natives never see, and cannot understand, that we must look for the complete and final amelioration of the natives, and the growth of common interests and aspirations. Amongst the Parliamentary papers presented this session of the General Assembly is one containing the Reports of Inspecting Officers of Native Schools in the North and Middle Island. There are in all eleven reports, to-n-ether with a table. The first is from Mr. W. B. White, P.M., of Mangonui, who visited the Peria school in January last. He found that the pupils had made considerable progress in reading, arithmetic, geography, and writing, and that they were " epiite as well advanced as children of an English school of same ages." They appeared neat and healthy, and Mr White passed some encomiums upon Mr. and Mrs. Capper, the teachers. It will be remembered that when his Excellency the Governor visited Mangonui, just prior to the meetiug of Parliament, the pupils of this school, to the number of about fifty, assembled to welcome him, and presented an address in English drawn up by one of the boys, and bearing the genuine signature of every pupil. Mr. White reports that the Kaitaia school was improving; that, owing to the indefatigable exertions of the teacher at Pukeputo, the advancement of the pupils becomes more noticeable at each succeeding visit ; and that at Ahipara prepa-

rations were being made to erect a suitable school building. The school at Parengarenga was in want of a teacher, and Mr. White thought the peculiar circumstances of the case required " an elderly, quiet, humble-minded man, whose experience of life has taught him to be satisfied with little, as long as he can be usefully employed." Mr. S. "Von Sturmer, of Hokianga, sends three reports, the latest on the 28th of April last. In December last he reported that the total number of scholars on the rolls in his district was 239, consisting of 112 girls and 127 boys, with an average attendance of 174. The Waima, Waitapu, Rakau Pura, Whirinaki, and Pakia schools were in a satisfactory condition. The children were rapidly acquiring a thorough knowledge of English. The native subscriptions towards the maintenance of the teacher were paid regularly, and the advantages of education were fully appreciated by the teachers. On the 6 th March Mr. Von Sturmer reports the result of a protracted examination of all the schools in the district, held at Herd's-point. The competition was keen, and the manner in which the children answered the questions propounded to them reflected credit upon the teachers. Tha discipline was found to be excellent, and Mr. Von Sturmer remarks that despite some drawbacks as to accommodation "it would be very difficult to collect the same number of children attending Etiropean schools whose personal appearance and behavior could excel" that presented by the native schools. A boy named Kereama Tawhai, eleven yeai-s of age, grandson of the chief Mohi Tawhai, succeeded in securing 302 marks out of a possible 350. Mrs. ~Von Sturmer and Mrs. Frazer examined the girls in sewing, for which a prize was awarded, and also for excellence in singing. The affair was appx-opriately wound up with a ventriloquial and musical entertainment, given by Professor Jacobs, followed by a liberal distribution of sweetmeats. Mr. Von Sturmer anticipates the most favorable results from these annual reunions and competitions. The last report, made in April, shows a slight increase in the number of pupils on the roll; The school fees contributed during the year ending the previous March amounted to £96 9s. 2d. The progress of the schools was marked, the parents showed an increased desire to secure the advantages of an English education for their children, and there was a marked improvement in respect to personal cleanliness at the various settlements. The natives of Lower Waihou had voluntarily raised £SO towards the erection of a school. Mr. H. W. Brabant, P.M., Opotiki, reports on July 10, 1875, on the schools at Te Kaha, Omarumutu, Opotiki, Ohiwa, Whakatane, Matata, Maketu, and Whareroa, the aggregate number of which on the rolls was 391, with a total average attendance of 226. All these schools had made and wera continuing to make satisfactory progress, notwithstanding that sickness had been so prevalent as to seriously diminish the attendance. In translating colloquial English the pupils excelled, and in the various branches of elementary education they had made considerable advances. The schools in the Lake district, two of which were temporarily without masters, were also in. a satisfactory condition. Mr. Brabant was able to make a still more favorable report ia January, 1876. He visited ten schools, some of them far in the interior of the country, and examined the pupils in the following branches, in all of which they exhibited satisfactory progress :—Reading, writing, spelling, dictation, grammar, arithmetic, tables, weights and measures, geography, repeating poetry, the Catechism, and the Ten Commandments. At Ohinemutu the natives were induced to subscribe a sum of £SO towards the cost of a schoolhouse, and set aside a suitable site. Preparations were on foot for establishing a school at Kuhirua, on Lake Rotorua. Mr. J. H. Campbell, P.M., of Waiapu, reports the results of an examination of the school at Akuaku, where " the general proficiency of the scholars in reading, writing, and geography was really surprising." They had made creditable advances in religious knowledge, could repeat the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, in good English, were able to point out all the principal places on a map of the Avorld, naming, at the same time, the sovereigns, presidents, &c. Mr. J. A. Wilson, Gisborne, reports on the condition of the schools at Tokomaru, Tologa, and Whakato. He found the pupils creditably proficient in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; the schoolrooms clean ; the arrangements orderly, and the interest in ed\ication well maintained. At Whakato the natives had some time previously set aside a valuable block of land as an endowment for a school, which is now yielding an annual revenue of £4OO, and they were supplementing this by subscriptions. Mr. Wilson recommends the introduction of English games and pastimes as a means of rendering the schools popular and attractive. Mr. Woon reports at some length on the educational condition of the natives in the Upper Wanganui district. The progress of the Iruharama school had been somewhat retarded by the migratory habits of the natives, but the liberal aid afforded by the Government was producing beneficial results. The school at Jerusalem, under the efficient supervision of Mi-. Donaldson, was rapidly improving, the attendance having increased. As to the Parikino school, Mr. Woon recommends a modified boarding-school system, in order to meet the wants of children coming from distant settlements. A fresh impetus had been given to this school by the distribution of prizes for proficiency, and by an entertainment liberally provided by the local chief Kakaraia. Mr. Woon remarks: " I am not without hope that, sooner or later, the natives will duly prize the matter of educating their offspring, and that some day valuable aid will be afforded by them towards the support and improvement of the educational establishments started by the New Zealand Government in their midst, and which have hitherto been so highly fostered by the department under the immediate supervisiou and control of Sir Donald 1 McLean." Mr. Woon also remarks that where

the attendance at the schools partly consists of European children, the natives acquire a knowledge of English more readily than they otherwise would. He gives an account of the examination of a native boy named "Walter Williams, son of the late John Williams, a celebrated Wanganui chief, who rendered distinguished services to the Government during the war. The boy read fluently from "Phillips's Eourth Heading Book," recited the "Burial of Sir John Moore" in good English, besides other pieces, described various ocean mail routes, and explained the uses of the Suez Canal. The pupils appeared to have made excellent progx*ess in other branches of elementary education, were being instructed in drill, singing and other accomplishments, and the girls were instructed in sewing, knitting, culinary arts, ironing, &c, the specimens of needlework being particularly good. The sum of £9 had been subscribed towards the purchase of a harmonium.

The Rev. J. W. Stack, of Christchurch, reports on the state of the native schools in Canterbury and Nelson. He estimates that out of a total of 500 children in the South Island who ought to be receiving instruction, about 250 are attending the schools ; and, having regard to the opposition offered by a considerable section of the natives, he considers the attendance satisfactory. Kerei Taiaroa, Irai Tihau, Te Bore, and other influential natives were aiding the efforts of the Government in every way. He, however, suggests compulsory education as a means of increasing the attendance at the schools, together with public competitions and the distribution of prizes. Mr. H. J. Beeves reports on the schools at Kaiapoi, Wairewa, Wairau, Whakapuaka, and Motueka, which were in a satisfactory condition. In one instance a chief named Eli, who was an enthusiastic sivpporter, travelled twenty miles to bring five scholars. The girls were receiving industrial training in the shape of house-work, cooking, and sewing. Mr. A. Mackay adds a memorandum upon tho condition of the native school at Aralmra, Westland, and suggests that an improvement would be effected by handing over the management ©f this school to the local Board of Education. A table is appended showing that the total number on the roll at the schools at Whakapuaka, Wairau (Marlborough), Arahura, Bluff, Riverton, Buapuke, Taieri, Otago Heads, Burakanui, Kaiapoi, and Motueka, is 209, of whom 112 are boys, and 97 girls ; the attendance having increased from 145 in 1875 to 209 in 1876.

We conclude our review of these reports with a feeling of peculiar satisfaction. They show that what has been accomplished, and the strenuous efforts now being made, give abundant promise of great success, and of results the magnitude of which can hardly be ever-estimated. The system adopted by the Government, though sufficiently liberal, is judicious. The natives are not encouraged to become paupers, but to practice habits of selfdependence. . The lesson constantly kept before their view is that education is a boon that calls for some pecuniary sacrifices on their part. It ought also to be borne in mind that many of the above-mentioned schools now flourish in districts which only a few years ago were desolated by war, and could not be traversed except by troops. Indeed, some of them were the sites of deeds of barbarism which the mind shudders to recal. Now all this is changed. The schoolmaster is abroad ; rapine and devastation have given place to the humanising influences of education; where soldiers and "tauas" mustered for the deadly conflict bands of healthy children assemble for the peaceful competitions of the schools, and for invigorating pastimes and social reunions. This is what all true friends of the native race will view with satisfaction, and desire to see fostered in every reasonable way. NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY. TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND MAIL. SlB, —With what great pleasure I read your most able and instructive leader you can easily imagine. Pray let me have space to support you as much as I can. The management of the New Zealand University at first, in a secretarial sense, was of course very incomplete, and the then University Council did not grasp at all the difficulties of beginning a University scheme in a new country. I had to write repeatedly for information, and only got routine answers. In the printed announcements of the subjects of examinationfor 1874, with names of text books, which I received, was the following, nearly as I give it, and as it is found exactly in the Calendar for 1874 : "History.—European History for A. D. 1106 to A.D. 1453 ; Hallam's ' Literature of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries'; Bryce's'Holy Eoman Empire' ; Creasy's ' British Constitution.' " This was one of the subjects out of three compulsory. This information, I think, I received two or three months after the beginning of the University year. Some of these books could not be obtained for me by a Wellington bookseller in Melbourne, and were got from England. So far as I could make out the foregoing announcement, and being guided especially by the fact that one text book, Hallam's " Literature," had practically nothing to do with the period of history prescribed, I inferred that all the text books named, as well as some general History of Europe, had to be read up. I tried it. But with the mathematical subjects—arithmetic, algebra, euclid, and trigonometry, elementary works ; and the English subjects—Shakspere's "King John" and Trench's " History of the English language," I found my strength so terribly tasked that I had to give way, throwing on one side some of the work. Bear in mind, please, that I had written to know whether those portions of the text books referring to the period in question (1106 to 1453) only had to be studied, or whether they had to be studied as distinct divisions of the subject, and that I could get no answer. Imagine my surprise when I received a few days before the examination a

corrected copy of the syllabus, which then appeared as follows:—"History. European History, 1106 A.D. to 1453 A.D.; text books recommended—Hallam's 'Literature,' Bryce's 'H. R. Empire', Creasy's 'B. Constitution.' " Here I had been reading up the whole of these two last works, or portions of a subject, when I need only have read those portions of them referring to the period in question. I am glad to say I did not fail, but I did not take a high place among the other students. Again was a case last year deserving of strong censure. Under the head of " History" appears only this simple announcement, Merivale's " Boman Emperors." I wrote both to Messrs. Lyon and Blair and Messrs. T. A. Borden and Sons. Neither of them knew of such a work. I asked Mr. Bowden in particular, who took some trouble to inform me. There seemed only one work of Merivale's that the designation Merivale's " Boman Emperors " would apply to, namely, Merivale's " History of the Romans under the Empire." I wrote "to the University officials, but only the old superb reference to the secretary or the calendar —what the authorities meant by Merivale's " Boman Emperors " I could not get to know. Accordingly the firm from whom I obtain my books sent to Melbourne for Merivale's " Romans under the Empire," 8 volumes, which I thought and hoped would be of large type and few pages. It came one or two months after the beginning of the University year, and I found it of small type and many pages —from 400 to 500 in each volume. This shocked me. A work of about 3580 pages, equal to Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Boman Empire," or three volumes as krrge as Smith's "Student's Hume." With strength already too much bowed, I gave up the task—wisely, I hope. So much for the management of our overreaching, and, I am afraid, half-incapable University. Let me, however, revert again to the standard of examination for the B.A. degree in the New Zealand University and the M.A. degree in the Melbourne University. The questions may be more severe in the Melbourne University than in the New Zealand University —I cannot say; but they seem very severe in our own University. New Zealand—B.A. degree : Latin language and literature, mathematics (four branches) and three other subjects, say, English language and literature, general history and political economy, astronomy and meteorology. Melbourne —M.A. degree: Astronomy only. It will be seen that to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in the New Zealand University a student must take up five extensive subjects—indeed very extensive subjects. Advanced mathematics includes the elementary—the Master of Arts degree includes the Bachelor of Arts degree. Now please allow me to compare the text books as recommended by the respective Universities :—B.A. (New Zealand): Herschel's "Outlinesof Astronomy," P.S. Main's "Introduction to Plane Astronomy," Airy's " Ipswich Lectures on Astronomy," also some works on Meteorology. M.A. (Melbourne) : " Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy," Airy's "Ipswich Lectures on Astronomy," Main's Astronomy, the "Explanation" of the Nautical Almanac. It will thus be seen that the text books for the Master of Arts degree in Melbourne are almost the same as the text books for one out of five subjects for the Bachelor of Arts degree in New Zealand. I beg you to insert this letter if you can. The New Zealand University, with its, to my mind, absurdly high standards, is practically useless, and should have its action publicly exhibited and criticised.—l am, &c, T. Wakelin. Greytown, July 22. THE UNIVEBSITY OF NEW ZEALAND. TO THE EDITOR OE THE NEW ZEALAND MAIL. Sir, —I think you have done good service to the higher education of the colony in calling attention to the preposterous requirements in Greek for the B.A. degree at the New Zealand University. It is difficult to speak with common patience of so ridiculous a demand, viz., eight books, four of them plays. Perhaps the absurdity of it will appear still more evident if it be compared with the requirements of the University of Cambridge for the same degree. It so happens that just before leaving England, now nearly four years ago, an undergraduate of Cambridge came to me during the long vacation, to read for his final examination for the B.A. degree. Greek was a compulsory subject, but the amount required was simply two books of Plato, short, and by no means difficult, viz., the " Apology of Socrates," and the "Crito." The two together would not involve half the work required to master thoroughly one Greek play. Now, if two short books are deemed sufficient by the University of Cambridge, whose students enjoy ample wealth, unlimited leisure, and all the assistance which a large body of the ablest tutors in the land can afford them, and almost all of whom have had, in addition, the advantage of years of classical training at the great public schools, what are we to think of this demand of the newly-formed University of a young and immature colony ? I know it will be said that the standard of Cambridge is too low, that it is unworthy of so old and so splendid a University, and the remark of Dr. Whewell will be quoted that "Passmen " have no business at the University ; and doubless there is a great deal of truth in this remark as applied to Cambridge. But a standard which may be unworthy of it may be quite high enough for a University in a new colony, affording few opportunities for high culture. It would be interesting to know the genesis of this extraordinary programme. I can only suppose that the Council sought the opinion of their examiner on the subject, and then adopted his suggestion without criticism or discussion, thus substituting the eccentricities of one individual for the deliberate judgment of the whole body. Perhaps they did not feel themselves strong enough in their Greek to discuss the matter, or perhaps they were afraid (many are) of being twitted with want of scholarship if they ventured to think that the demand was an unreasonable one.

I cannot but think that the present constitution of this learned body is a mistake, and the best proof that it is so is afforded by the blunder we are discussing. It is evident that these respectable gentlemen have no idea of what it is fair and reasonable to expect from young men, that in fact they are mere amateurs in education, and are simply playing at being a University. Perhaps the best plan would be to sweep them right away, and substitute in their stead a body composed of men practically engaged in carrying on the higher education of the colony ; say, for instance, the principals of all the colleges affiliated to the University, who ought to be members ex officio of the University Council. A few laymen might be added, to dilute the professional element, but not to swamp it. The professors of the Otago University ought certainly to be members. From a Council so formed fair and reasonable requirements for a degree might be confidently expected. I am aware that an effort to modify the in this direction was made at its last meeting by the principal of one of the affiliated colleges, but the Council resisted, # and voted itself quite competent to the work it had to do. How far it formed a lowly and just estimate of itself, the public can now see.

Surely the authorities of every University should remember that the object of a college education is to fit a man to do efficiently the real work of life, not to exhaust him to such a degree during his earlier years as to render him an intellectual cripple for the rest of his days. —I am, &c, J. G. Wellington, July 26.