I.—4a

24

9. That the members of the teaching-staff be movable by the Minister of Mines from one district to another, so that all parts of the colony may have the benefit of any special qualifications any member of the staff may possess. 10. The Minister of Mines, in allotting their districts to the members of the teaching-staff, will take into consideration the requirements of quartz-mining districts for the services of the quartzmining experts on the staff. 11. The members of the teaching-staff will co-operate with Education Boards, School Committees, and the headmasters of the Government schools and of Catholic schools, to form classes of upper-form schoolboys for the study of the chemistry and testing and assaying of metallic ores. 12. Professor Black will, once a year, visit every school of mines in the Middle Island, to hold a practical examination of the students, to inspect and report on their accommodation for the classes and on the state of their appliances, to direct them in their further studies, and to lecture and conduct classes so far as the time at his disposal will permit. 13. Bach member of the teaching-staff will, on the 31st of March every year, report to Professor Black on the work of the classes in his district during the year, and on any minerals discovered or new localities for valuable minerals. It will be Professor Black's duty then to forward these reports to the Minister of Mines, with his remarks thereon, together with his own report for the year. 14. That each school manage its own affairs, appoint the times for the meetings of the classes, and arrange for the custody of the appliances and property of the school. * * x * % % * * * [For "the duties of such a teaching-staff" vide remarks at foot of Table B, fifth paragraph, page 22.] The field, it will be seen, is unbounded, and the trouble will be to get the right men to occupy it. It would be an eternal disgrace to New Zealand if, in the present depressed state of the colony, we were to disregard the present receptive and enthusiastic attitude of the minds of our thousands of miners to the technical instruction afforded by these schools. Why, the battle is more than half won. It only remains to consolidate the separate schools already in existence into a regularlyorganised colonial institution. * * +. * x t- * * * [For tabular view of Middle Island schools of mines, and explanation thereof, vide Table B, page 20, to the sixth paragraph on page 23 inclusive.] Some person writing to the Otago Daily Times under a norn de plume has views on the subject of sending to Nevada and Mexico for information as to silver-ores and their treatment. I am not going to trouble your readers with the reasons which render such a mission very desirable in the interests of the silver-smelting industry that is going to be in the immediate future a great factor in our prosperity. I shall content myself with telling him who are the men that should be sent on such an errand. 1. A report alone is no good. Practical men never learn much which they can make use of from a learned report on any subject. It seems to me that the men (for there should be two of them) sent should, on their return, not merely write a report of what they have seen and learnt and done, but should be prepared and qualified to direct the erection of plant suitable for carrying on the processes. 2. They should be men who are in the Government service, with a good record to their names, and not men who would probably go at the public expense, see and learn what is to be seen and learnt, write a report containing just as much or as little as they choose to put into it, keep back what they like, and make use of it themselves and exclusively for their own advantage. 3. One of them at least should be thoroughly acquainted with the chemistry of all the gold- and silver-saving substances that are known to be in use ; and, indeed, since silver-saving process almost wholly, and gold-saving process to a considerable extent, are now chemical operations, he should be well up in the whole subject of mineral and general chemistry. 4. One of the men should be a practical mechanician or a civil engineer specially conversant with gold-saving machinery. Not merely a man who can describe and even draw diagrams of such plant, but a man who can draw up specifications showing the details of all parts of such machinery, and superintend the erection of it: a man who can put his own hand to the work and, if need be, erect the machinery himself. 5. Both men should be well up in all the processes now in use at least in this colony, otherwise they might waste their time in working up the details of something we have already on the Thames, or at Eeefton, or Skipper's. 6. It seems to me also to be quite necessary, if our miners are to get any considerable benefit from such a mission, that one at least of the two appointees be qualified and willing to teach, on every goldfield in the colony, what he has seen and learnt on the other side. The information, to be of any use, must be communicated directly to the miners (the parties most interested) by the erection of plant, by practical experiments, and by explanatory conversations and lectures ; and, in short, the information got at the cost of the colony for the benefit of the miners must be made a subject of study in all the technical schools of mines. 7. Well, then, such being, as far as I can see, the qualifications of the men, the question arises, Who have these qualifications ? If Mr. Gordon—the well-known Inspector of Mines and of Mining Machinery for the colony— can be spared, there is no doubt that he is just the man in New Zealand who possesses in an eminent degree the qualifications mentioned in No. 4 above. Mr. Gordon is not only familiar with all the appliances in use in New Zealand; he has also made himself well acquainted with the mining and gold- and silver- and tin-saving appliances in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. As an associate with Mr. Gordon on such a mission it seems to me that there are only four