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1.—14b

I do not think that the farmers' unions and similar bodies in this Education District of Hawke's Bay, perhaps in conjunction with the Wellington, Wanganui, and Taranaki branches, would find any real difficulty in employing and paying one or two fully qualified instructors to conduct classes for two or three months in each district on the principal subjects of agricultural education. Such classes would also be available for the teachers in primar3 T schools to gain a fuller knowledge of agricultural subjects. The best pupils from these local agricultural classes would be eligible for the senior technical scholarships. The best of these, again, should receive scholarships tenable at Lincoln College, or at any other higher agricultural college or special dair3 7 school that may be established. By the National Scholarships Act of last session, the senior National Scholarships may be held at such higher agricultural schools, so that the advantages and distinctions of these scholarships are open as much to the future farmer as to the future law-yer or schoolmaster. 1 have not nearly- exhausted my subject, but I think I have said enough to show that it rests not so much with the Government as with yourselves to take the next steps for the establishment of classes for agricultural instruction. If your own fervent desires and my humble explanations produce a practical effect, and you are in a position definitely to propose the establishment of classes, I shall be most happy either to come myself or to send some one else to discuss the details with you, and to point out the formal steps that require to be taken to put the classes on a satisfactory basis. Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given; printing (5,675 copies), £31 2s.

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