r.—Xo. i.

training, something might he assigned to it, hut it should by no means occupy a prominent place in the examination. In this point more than any other the Colonial youth would be at a disadvantage compared with pupils from Eton or Westminster. In Oxford in the competition for two or three of the University Scholarships, verse composition is essential, but I have known a good many students take the highest degrees and distinguish themselves greatly there without ever writing a verse at all. The examination for the less or Colonial exhibitions should be on the earlier stages of the same subjects as those for the University exhibitions. I would not give an important place to any modern language except English. It is difficult, if modern languages enter into the examination, to say what ought to be admitted or what excluded. The accident of a French or German mother might give a dull youth the appearance of a vast superiority. The object of the examinations, I think, would be not so much to ascertain what a candidate has in any way acquired, but what training his mind has undergone, and what capacity there is in him for improvement. This is best tested by the dead languages or by pure mathematics, where all have started with some approach to equality. It is sometimes objected that men versed in these subjects are of little practical use in the world. The Earl of Derby, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Goshcn, arc all of them distinguished scholars. Newton made an excellent and efficient Master of the Mint; but on this topic I would respectfully refer the Committee to Mr. Mills' late inaugural address to the University of St. Andrew. 7.] In the future a University is no doubt requisite for New Zealand. At present, even if sufficient funds were furnished by the Government or by private benefactors, there would be small prospect of being able to establish one which could compete in advantages with those of older countries. In old countries a Professor of average ability will draw students to his lectures by the prestige attached to his position and the great names which have preceded him. In a Colony or new country first-rate Professors could only be obtained by extravagant salaries, and Professors of the very first name and ability would be required to set the new machine in motion. At present we have far too small a population to supply, under any inducements we can offer, a tolerably numerous body of students; there is not the raw material for a teaching University to work upon. 'And yet an institution which shall have grown np with the country is more likely to thrive than one which shall have been imported and transplanted full grown at a later period. There are at present in the Colony a considerable number of graduates of old Universities, of Barristers and other professional men of liberal education. I think that in these we might find the nucleus of a future University. They might be formed into a corporate body, with power to grant degrees ad eimdem and on examination. The payment of very moderate fees for the degrees would make the society self-supporting. A tangible value might be given to these degrees by making them a necessary or a sufficiency for entering the Civil Service or the professions in the Colony. Weight would be added to the Society by giving them a Representative in the Assembly. It would be their province to elect the Board, who should have the appointment of examiners for the exhibitions and degrees of A.A. or higher rank as candidates offered themselves. Their votes could be given by proxy, as is the case now in the election of some officers in the English Universities. As time went on and the increasing wants and population of the Colony suggested it, there might be established schools with Professors of Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mineralogy, Medicine, Mathematics, and eventually of Philology, Classics, and the Fine Arts. An efficient and teaching University would in this way grow up which would be, I think, likely to succeed at a far less cost than the experiments on a larger scale which are being tried at Sydney and at Melbourne. * # * I would add to my reply to No. 5 that a year ago I spent a few days in my old College, at Oxford. So far as I could learn the expense of a University course have been lessened rather than increased of late. My estimate of the sufficiency of £200 a-year for residence in the University of Oxford, is founded both on my experience as a burser, and on the expenditure of myself, and an older and younger brother, as undergraduates. Some twenty-eight years ago I was an undergraduate at University College; a little previous my elder brother was a scholar of Worcester College; some eight years later my younger brother was a scholar of Wadham. .£2OO a-year covered all the expenses of my brothers, including a fair estimate for the vacations, and if it did not actually, certainly ought to have covered mine. If it should be thought advisable to appoint a body corporate, with the power of granting degrees, I think that modern languages ought to hold a fair place in any examination which might be held for the degree of Associate of Arts. J. C. Andrew, M.A., Late Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford.

T. A. Bowdex, Esq.—l.] I am of opinion that tlie foundation of University Scholarships would prove a great hoou to the cause of Colonial education, inasmuch as it would encourage a more exact and critical system of teaching, and also direct and regulate the course of study in Colonial schools. Without such a stimulus I think the time is distant when the advantages of a liberal education will he sufficiently appreciated to encourage the teachers and managers of schools to establish a high standard of education, to induce parents to continue their children at school a 15

57

ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS.