T. H. LABY.i

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1.—13 a.

57. From the figures you gave you are quite sure the cost in the South Island is £11 per student as compared with £4 per head in the North Island? —In both cases. I think the fees are absurdly low in the North Island, and it would be desirable to raise them in the present state of the finances. Recently in New South Wales the Government gave a considerable grant to Sydney University to enable it to reduce the fees. I am not prepared to say on the spot what is a reasonable fee. 58. Do you think it is a fair thing that a fee should be charged —a reasonable fee'f —Yes, I believe in a reasonable fee. 59. You gave us some information about the examination system from the report of the Royal Commission who dealt with the Irish system. Could you tell us what that Commission recommended with regard to the examination of students? —The report of the Commission is that, " As regards the university examinations counting towards the degree, it is proposed that they should be held in the colleges and conducted by at least two examiners in each subject—one being the college professor and the other or others being appointed by the Senate of the university as extra examiner or examiners unconnected with any of the constituent colleges of the university, or with any college whose teaching is recognized by the university; and no candidate should be passed without the consent of the university examiner or examiners." 60. Is it not that the examination should be by the examiner or lecturer plus an assessor unconnected with the university and plus the right of veto by the university itself? —I do not approve of that. It has been tried in Wales, and the reputation of the Welsh universities Ido not think is such as to justify us in trying it. 61. Will you tell us what you approve of J —l believe what we ought to have is a Board of Examiners constituted for any subject of the four independent teachers of that subject in the four colleges. In that case every student has three examiners who are not personally familiar with him and one who is. I think it is a reasonable compromise between a purely internal examination and a purely external examination. 62. You do not believe in the present external examination!— No. 63. Or the assessor? —The assessor would not be satisfactory, because in a number of subjects it would not be possible to obtain a man who was sufficiently well informed on the modern aspect of the subject on which he was examining. In England the assessor is almost invariably a professor in another university or college, and so is familiar with the subject and problems of teaching. In New Zealand it is naturally impossible to obtain such an examiner unless you draw him from the other colleges. 64. Do you yourself approve of the four professors on the subject forming a Board? —Yes. Bring them together and they could examine as well as any Board we could get in New Zealand. 65. There would be no liability of individual students being favoured by the professors?—l think that implies partiality on the part of the professors. 66. It might be unconscious? —You might say a Judge might be partial because he knows the person before him. Any professor who showed partiality would be untrustworthy and not fit for his position. 67. In engineering you approve of the principle of the professor or lecturer examining his own students? —Yes. There are certain difficulties when four professors do not exist. 68. I understood you to recommend that the University should have connected with it—or one of the colleges—an Agricultural School and a Veterinary School? —Yes, that is one of the most urgent needs in New Zealand at the present time. 69. And you believe that agriculture as a scientific training would be better taught at the University than in any other institution? —Infinitely better taught. 70. Is agriculture taught at Cambridge University? —Professor Watt, the new Professor of Agriculture at Sydney University, stated that the Cambridge School was the best existing in England. 71. You are a Cambridge man?— Yes. 72. Do you know anything about the Cambridge Agricultural School? —Yes. 73. What is your own opinion? —In the results in wheat-breeding obtained it is, 1 understand, one of the best in England. 74. It is a great success ■ —I think by establishing the agricultural and other schools Cambridge has made itself a national institution. 75. Has Cambridge a Veterinary School yet?— No. 76. 1 would like to ask a question about the superannuation of professors : do you approve of that being provided?— You do not provide superannuation for a professor, and you are left in the position that a professor is induced to continue his teaching many years after the time he should retire. You have many much older men occupying Chairs than there should be. You put the professor- in the position that when he arrives at over sixty years of age, and he feels possibly that he cannot fulfil Ins dvi ies adequately and properly, that he has to make a sacrifice if he retires. 77. The Chairman.'] You heard Professor Hunter's evidence with regard to the examination system? —Yes. 78. I gather that you agree entirely with him ?—Yes. 79. Do you approve also of an alteration being made in the method of awarding scholarships? I understand Professor Hunter to mean that they should be given only to students needing them. 80. And they should not be competitive? —The scholarship should be so awarded that it should be put into the hands of the Professorial Board of any college to encourage their best students to continue their work. The object of a scholarship fund should be to provide means to enable the best students to continue their work. 81. Then you do not approve of giving the reward as a result of competition?—l think it is an improper principle, especially where the student does not require it.