F.—No. 1.

sons longer at school, and to obtain for them a larger amount of liberal learning than they would be contented with if the average level of Colonial education were to continue as low as it is at present. It may indeed be, that for some time after the institution of the scholarships in question, the number of candidates will not be commensurate with the labour and expenditure involved in a higher course of teaching. I think, however, the experiment is worth trying. But whether it ought to precede, accompany, or follow direct efforts to improve existing schools, or to establish one or more Central Colonial High Schools, seems to me a practical question of much gravity and no little difficulty. 2.] I do " recommend the foundation of exhibitions for the encouragement within the existing schools of the Colony of a higher class of studies than that which the pupils generally can now be induced to prosecute/ My experience of Nelson College, of which I was for some years visitor, satisfies me that it is as difficult as it is desirable to induce parents to allow their children to remain long enough at school to enable them to acquire any matured acquaintance Avith Literature, either ancient or modern, or with physical sciences, or to do more than master the elements of a liberal education. As soon as their sons have attained such common accomplishments as writing with a moderate amount of orthography and caligraphy, and a moderate facility in the ordinary Arithmetical operations, a fair knowledge of Geography, a certain acquaintance with the facts and dates of History, with a smattering of Latin and of Euclid, parents seem to consider that the time has come for turning them to practical account on the station, in the counting-house or the Government office ; and thus, it is to be feared that a large proportion of the generation of now adolescent colonists, will find themselves in mature years —at a time when they will be naturally expected to take prominent places in the public and social life of the Colony—very much inferior iv respect of intellectual and asthetical culture and attainments to the average of corresponding classes in European communities, or of the fresh immigrants from the middle classes of the mother country. I believe sixteen is a common age for the conclusion of education in the Colony among the wealthier classes —an age when ordinarily the fruits of education are only beginning to show themselves, and after which there is much need of judicious management, patience, perseverance, and fostering care to bring the fruits to perfection, or even to wholesome ripeness. Now, if exhibitions were established, to be competed for by boys (say) from sixteen to eighteen years of age attending schools, certified for the purpose as hereinafter suggested, and to be enjoyed for a considerable period, provided at the end of each year the exhibitioner receive a certificate of average diligence and progress—the pecuniary value of the exhibitions being not inconsiderable —I think they would afford a strong inducement to parents to allow their children to remain longer in such establishments, and to carry their education to a higher point, and to pupils in the schools to take a deeper interest in their work. The unsuccessful competitors ought not, I think, to be prevented from competing again at the end of a year, for if they were, it is probable that all the unsuccessful candidates would retire at once from the school. The certified schools should be those which the Central Board of Education or Examiners (which must be created if any scheme either for scholarships or exhibitions is to be carried out) should have ascertained to be capable of providing a course of instruction including certain subjects with certain defined limits. I would venture to suggest an outline of a scheme of exhibitions for the pupils of such schools. Let six exhibitions of £75 per annum for three years be competed for in the Colony every year. Let the competition be restricted to pupils who are then attending, and have for two years previous been attending one of the certified schools, the candidates being of the age of not less than fifteen years on their last birthday, or more than nineteen years on their next. Let the exhibition continue for three years, provided that the exhibitioner shall pass a creditable examination at the end of the first and second years; and in all cases it should be liable to be forfeited by misconduct or cross negligence. The competition ought to be common among the candidates from all the certified schools, and to be awarded to the successful competitors, to be enjoyed in aid of tuition and subsistence money at the same schools which they have been attending. The examination might be conducted simultaneously by. written questions, forwarded to the heads of schools by the Board of Examiners, and not opened till the time of examination, the answers being sent, uncxamined by the local mastcivs, in scaled envelopes to the Board. I think that such a competition, along with a similarly conducted one, for two scholarships for European Universities every year, would act as a very strong stimulus to parents and pupils and the conductors of schools in the Colony. It seems to me, indeed, that the institution of exhibitions should precede that of University Scholarships, if they cannot be established simultaneously, as being a more direct mode of encouraging the pupils in the schools of the Colony to continue longer under tuition, and to attain a higher maximum of education. I would also suggest, that any pupil who had obtained a Colonial exhibition should be eligible for employment in the Civil Service of the Colony without further examination (at all events on general subjects). 3.] I am not able to offer any further practical suggestions in regard to Questions NO3. 1

43

ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS.