GLIMPSES OF EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 89

GLIMPSES OF EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

By E. L. Brown, M.A.

.My next visit was to the "Women's College, the residence provided for the women students of Sydney University. It is a red brick building, with little claim to architectural beauty, situated in its own grounds at one side of the large park! ike reserve attached to -the University. St. Paul's, the Anglican men's college, stands" next 'to it, and facing it, on the opposite slope -of the hill, is 'St. Andrew's, the denomination of which it is unnecessary to state, while *ehind St. Andrew's is St. John's, the Catholic '.College. We were shown into the private room of Miss McDonald, a lady whose .pleasant Scotch accent still obtrudes through .her London University training and 'her 17 years' residence in New South 'Wales. Miss McDonald's duties consist -in a .general oversight of the students (with whom she appears to be on the pleasantest of terms). and lecturing on Latin and theology. Miss M'Donald spoke a little of her experience of the English universities. "But student life is the same all the world, over,"' she said; "There are the long hours of work, and then the (bouts of reaction, when youthful spirits must find a vent."'

The qms appear to -lead a very happy life, free to" come and go, and -work and play as the spirit, -moves them. We heard of only two restrictions upon their liberty: if intending to .be out after 10 p.m. they must give .notice to -the principal, and they may entertain gentlemen visitors only in the sitting-room downstairs known, we were told, as the "Mausoleum," a term of reproach for which we could find no justification beyond the somewhat sombre'colouring of tie walls

Each of the students has her own room, which serves as bedroom and study combined. The furniture provided by the college is simple but good of its kind, and Ahe girls have a free hand in the decora"tfons. JLounge chairs of various patterns and designs wero a feature of all the rooms into which we were shown. One room was a perfect gallery of the fashionable Dana Gibson pictures, the walls of another were adorned with posters iised in the procession on last Commemoration Day — the analogous thing to the capping carnival we are so familiar with.

The rooms are all delightfully fresh and airy, as the college is built entirely in ■wings only -one room deep, -with verandahs and 'balconies on each side, into which French windows open — one set from the students' rooms and the other from the corridors. At the end of each corridor is a bathroom -and a students' pantry. Afternoon tea is -provided by the college, but if the girls wish to entertain their friends outside the college, or .to indulge in little "snacks" between meals, they have to depend upon their own resources * To judge by the number of pretty tea sets stored there, most of the girls avail themselves of the .privilege of the students' pantry. The library is a fair-sized, comfort-able .room, well stocked with bo.pks, nearly all of them donations of private persons. They had a most tempting look, being well bound and well kept — not too well kept, however, being all of them, as Miss MTfronald said, "books you want to read." There was a fair sprinkling of fiction of the more classic type.

The pride of the college, however, is in its dining hall, modelled on some of the smaller halls in Cambridge. It is panelled to a height of 10ft or 12ft in dark wood, and above the panelling are casts in bas relief reproducing some of the famous Elgin marbles. These, with the beautiful sta'ned gkiss windows set high in the walls, form the the only decorations. The effect is sombre, but rich in the extreme. The liiaids were busy setting the tables for dinner when we entered, and the white tablecloths, gleaming silver, and buttercup decorations supplied exactly the relief the room required.

Thinking I could not go to a better authority, I asked Miss M'Donald her opinion of the prospects of the teaching profession in this State. These she does not consider brilliant. Salaries are low — much lower. I should say, than with us, — and many of the private schools pay their way only with the greatest difficulty. The prospect of Government interference with the present chaotic state of things is not liailed with anj; gnthiisiasuii a levelling

ill.

dewn being much more probable than a levelling up.

On our visit to the Sydney Technical College we were somewhat unfortunate. We hud left it until the m ork of the session was at an end, and the examinations were in full swing. On inquiring at the office we were told that the rooms were nearly all shut up, and the work of the students sent away. Not to be entirely outdone, however, "my friend and I walked through the passages, and peeped through such doors as happened to be open, and in this way gained some idea of the magnitude and scope of work undertaken by the college. It is an immense building, but utility, riot beauty, seems naturally enough to be everywhere aimed at, In the library the works are all of a strictly technological character : agriculture, chemistry, and metallurgy, geology and mineralogy, mechanical and electrical engineering, mathematics and applied physics, sanitation, architecture, and art were the chief subject headings we iii/ticed, and all these subjects are, we learned from the prospectus, taken up by lecturers in the college. Although it was an " off " time^ all the tables in the library were (occupied by students poring over tliese niinteresting manuals. On leaving the library we were fortunate enough to meet the lecturer on agriculture, who was known

to my friend, and who proved willing to talk of his subject, himself, and his students to any extent, even giving us a synopsis of the whole course of lectures. The course is a two years' one, the first year's lectures being on such subjects as physiology of plants, analysis -of soils, drainage and irrigation, manures, and the care of horses, sheep, and cattle; and the second being devoted to special courses on sheep-farming, dairy-farming, poultry-farming, beekeeping, etc. The work is made as practical as

possible ; in the laboratory of_ the college soils and manures are analysed, manures prepared, milk tested, etc. Once a year the class pays a visit to the Hawkesbury Agricultural College ; special tickets are also granted for all the chief agricultural and pastoral shows in Sydney, and farm implements and the points of cattle and sheep are studied under the lecturer's direction. The students at present number 114, including 12 ladies. They are chiefly clerks and mechanics who are anxious to exchange a city for a country life, and take this means of acquiring a Httle preliminary knowledge. Some, however, are already genuine farmers. That the course "in 1 agriculture is a useful one is shown by tihe fact that former students now occupy important positions in Hawkeslnuy Agricultural College, the Cowra Model Farm, the Botany Sewage Farm, etc. What we learned of the subject of agriculture doubtless applies, mutatis mutandis, to the other subjects also. We left with the impression that the work of the

Technical College could hardly fail to have an important effect upon the commercial and industrial life of Sydney.