F.—No. 1.

a Senate empowered to confer degrees, and has no Professors nor pupils, would scarcely bo practicable in New Zealand, nor would such a University supply the desideratum. Robert Kidd, LL.B., Collegiate School, Auckland.

F. Mcßae, Esq.—l.] I have the honour to offer the following observations in reply to the questions of the University Scholarships Committee of the House of Representatives. The Committee appears to have been appointed for the purpose of inquiring how the general prosecution of a higher class of studies than that which has hitherto obtained in New Zealand may be best secured. I do not recommend the foundation of University Scholarships for the purpose of sending boys out of the Colony as one of the best means for the attainment of this end. Making only the most moderate estimate of the expenses necessarily attending an absence of four years from the Colony, the number of boys who would be sent to a Foreign University would be so small that the effect produced would be, I fear, scarcely perceptible in an increased attention to the study of the higher departments of knowledge throughout New Zealand. 2.] The foundation of exhibitions within the existing schools of the Colony would not, in my opinion, sufficiently meet the requirements of New Zealand. The higher branches of education have not hitherto been generally studied because the masters of the existing schools have had their time so fully occupied in giving instruction in elementary subjects that they have been unable to devote the necessary attention to advanced pupils, and not because parents have been cither unable or unwilling to pay for the instruction of their children. And therefore I would venture respectfully to suggest to the Committee that the educational interests of the Colony will be best advanced by the establishment of schools with a full staff of teachers in the chief centres of population, or by the grant to existing schools of such sums as will enable them to procure the employment of additional masters. An experience of five years in the Colony has wrought in me the conviction that, if teaching power be supplied pupils will not be wanting. 7.] Nothing would in my opinion exercise a more beneficial effect on the educational interests of the Colony than the establishment of a New Zealand University. The time has not yet come for the founding of a University similar to the older European Universities. The University of Sydney has not had in any year more than forty students. But the success which has attended Ihc London University for more than twenty years would seem to suggest the course to be followed in New Zealand. The London University is not a teaching body. It grants degrees in arts, laws, and medicine, to all who pass its examinations, without any respect to the place in which their knowledge may have been acquired. Examinations are held simultaneously in several towns in England, the expenses attending which, and the payment of the examiners are now more than met by the fees obtained from candidates. A similar University established in New Zealand, holding examinations in the principal towns of the Colony, would give a mighty impetus to study. Not only would the principal schools strive to qualify their pupils for degrees, but many young men connected with the professions would employ their leisure time in preparing to pass the examinations. It is a suggestive fact that Melbourne has, within the last few years followed the example of London, and with similar success. The cost of the establishment of such a University would be comparatively little. If a sufficient number of examiners could not be found in New Zealand, those of the Australian Universities would be able to act. In a few years the fees of the candidates would exceed t c payments made to examiners, which need not be large. These observations have been made as brief as possible. I shall be happy to furnish any details that may be required. Farqthar Mcßae, Rector of the High School, Auckland.

Archdeacon Lloyd.—].] No doubt the advantages to the youths who should be so fortunate as to obtain scholarships to Oxford, Cambridge, or to Trinity College, Dublin, would be very great, much greater than could be derived from education in a University established in this country or in Australia, however well regulated ; not so much from the instruction imparted as from associating with the young men at the Universities at home. But the area over which the benefit would extend would seem to be too limited for the outlay. It would require an outlay of about (_.'2o() per annum for each scholar, at which rate for an expenditure of £2000 per annum three persons only could receive the benefits of a University education at home. The University course comprises a period of from three to four years, which would require an outlay of at least £600 for each person who had completed his College course. Besides, if it is proposed by the foundation of such scholarships to benefit the Colony, what security would there be that the youths so educated would return to the Colony ? In the Bishop of Calcutta College, where scholarships of this nature have been established, in order to secure the return of the young men, a bond is exacted from the parents, but I believe it is never enforced, and, in fact, a large proportion of the young men so educated never return. Such, I believe, would be the case with young men sent home from this Colony. Being among the most intelligent youths of the Colony, many of them would, I fear, be induced to try their fortune at the competitive examinations in the mother country, or would be otherwise absorbed.

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REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE