12

H;— 21

summer school, and the rural camp school. This means a heavy expenditure, for which there is no monetary return. Particulars regarding the winter school and the teachers' school are given in the College calendar. We also usually have in residence a number of public-school teachers from the Teachers' Training-school, who stay at the College for nine months, and who make a special study of agricultural instruction. On reference to the statement on page 77, for instance, with regard to the receipts and expenditure of the" College, if we eliminate the items " Public Works Fund " (£4,743 ss. Bd.) and " Resumed properties " (£6l 95.) we leave a debit balance of nearly £13,000, and this may be taken as the actual annual cost of the College to the country. Considering the vast amount of educational work done by this institution the expenditure is comparatively small. Besides the Hawkesbury Agricultural College we have two farm schools and five farm apprentice schools. The farm schools are situated at Wagga and Bathurst; the former has accommodation for sixty boys, and the latter for thirty-four, whilst the apprentice schools accommodate about twenty to twenty-five on the average. The Hawkesburj' College and the Wagga and Bathurst Farm Schools are practically always full, the applications generally being in excess of the accommodation. The apprentice schools, which have only been recentry started, are not yet full, but they are rapidly rilling, and there is every evidence that within the near future they will barely accommodate the number applying. The Hawkesbury is the highest class of school, the fees being £60 for three years. Students here work alternate days indoors and out, the three days indoors per week allowing of a considerable amount of theoretical training. At the farm schools, although the students receive a fair amount of theoretical training, they work outside every day, and most of their instruction is given at night, with occasional classes when they can be spared in the daytime. The fee is £15 for the first year, and students who gain a satisfactory report at the end of that period are allowed to remain a second year without fees. At the apprentice schools the charge is £5 for the first six months, and if the apprentice obtains a good report he remains a second six months without fees. The reason for the low fees at these schools is that the students do a considerable amount of practical work, and it is considered that this nearly compensates for the cost of keep and instruction. The balance-sheets of the Wagga and Bathurst farms are given in the annual report, but with regard to the apprentice schools, as they have only lately started, their financial statements will give little idea of the cost of instruction. For the past five years, in the position of Superintendent and Chief Inspector, T have been continually travelling in all portions of the farming districts of New South Wales, and during this time I have met hundreds of the old boys of the Hawkesbury College who are settled on the land, have inspected their farms, and frequently came into contact with their work. From my observations of their operations I have no hesitation in saying that they are doing an immense work for the country in improving our methods of cultivation, &c. The apprentice schools were really started with the object of taking boys who were brought out from England by the Dreadnought Fund trustees for training in farming, it being proposed to bring out at least a hundred a year. So far, however, very few have been sent out by the trustees, and as a local demand set up we have placed some seventy-five boys at these schools, and now have only room to accommodate fifty " Dreadnought " boys. The Dreadnought trustees referred to are the trustees of the fund raised for the purpose of purchasing a "Dreadnought" for Great Britain. The money not being required for this purpose, a portion has been allotted to assist boys to come out to Australia, get a short training in agriculture, and then take up employment on farms. It is found that ex-students of the Hawkesbury College, who since leaving that institution have had practical experience and have continued their agricultural studies, prove invariably to be the best men to take up positions such as managers of experiment farms, inspectors, experimentalists, and teachers. As a result they are now given preference when applying for such positions, and a very large percentage of the field and scientific officers of the Department now are ex-students of the College. In training these men the College has undoubtedly rendered excellent service for the Department. Had it not been for these men we should have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining qualified officers, and in many instances would have had to import them. . Under the Department of Public Instruction a school has been started, known as the Hurlstone Agricultural High School, which caters for boys between the ages of fourteen and sixteen —that is, their age at the time when they usually leave school till they are old enough to go to the College or farm schools. The students from this school have proved some of the best that have gone to the College and farms. During the past few r j-ears since the school was established they have occupied some of the leading places at the annual College examinations. This school has been so successful that it is the intention of the Government to start several others on similar lines. The reason for the fee being fco high at Hurlstone (see copy of prospectus) is that there was only a small area available for cultivation, and the training was principally theoretical, and there" is very little return from the land. If a more suitable area for farming purposes were made available the fees could be correspondingly reduced. If a boy passes the examination at Hurlstone at the end of the two-years course he is exempt from the first year's training at the Hawkesbury College, and can therefore obtain his diploma there in two years instead of three. There is another school, 'known as the Pitt Town Training School, which comes under the Labour Department. For this school boys are brought out from the Old Country, and are