In December last, as I had been suffering of some months from the effects of an accident, thinking that a short sea voyage would be of benefit to me, I made application for a few weeks' leave of absence from [unclear: ty], with the intenton of paying a short [unclear: wa]. to Australia The kindly note which [unclear: veyed] the Boards approval of my application also contained a request that whilst [unclear: a] Australia I would enquire into the state [unclear: of] education in such colonies as I might [unclear: i] and report my views to the Board.

There are so many aspects under which [unclear: tion] may be viewed in these days, that best myself the task before starting for australia of enquiring chiefly into matters [unclear: ing] on the work of primary education. [unclear: th] syllabus of instruction for the children: [unclear: th] made of conducting examinations; the several quality of the instruction; the ad-[unclear: rative] control of the schools; the considration of education, and the training [unclear: a] status of teachers, were questions [unclear: th] seemed to me worthy of special attraction and enquiry; but, in addition to case, I was anxious to see what practical [unclear: rts], if any, had been made to introduce [unclear: nical] instruction into the public schools a each of these questions I was desirous [unclear: a] obtain the fullest information, and though during my stay in Australia there are only five days, omitting Saturdays and [unclear: days], when I did not visit one or more the public schools either in New South Wales or Victoria, I found the time at my special too short to accomplish my self-[unclear: posed] task. Should there appear, there [unclear: th] a want of fulness in any portion of the port, it must e set down to a cause over which I had no control.

The letters which I carried with me from of Government were of great help in the [unclear: th] of my enquiries, and every facility as given me to visit schools and make [unclear: the] tenquiries by the Secretaries of Education beth in New South Wales and Victoria, and by the Inspector-General of Schools in the former colony. Copies of all regulations, circulars and Educaton Acts were sent to me by the authorities for my information and guidance, and these are available should any member of the Board be desirous of perusing them.

The system of education in each of the colonies named differs in many important points from our own. Under the New Zealand Education Act of 1877, the colony was divided into districts known as education districts, and for each district a Board of Education was constituted to administer the Act. The powers and duties of such Boards are defined in pection 35, which among other things, says, the "Board of each diet riot shall establish and maintain public schools within the district and shall promote the establishment of school districts within such district; and section 58 further says that, In every School district constituted there shall be a School committee" Thus in New Zealand the Board of Education and the school committee have become an integral part of the system of education. Such a plan of local government is unknown either in New South Wales or Victoria. Centralism is the leading feat uro in the administration of the Education Act in each colony-in New South Walse, for example, the Department of Education in Sydney controls every teacher and every School established under the Public Instruction Act of 1880.

The Minister of Education for the time being is the supreme authority in all matters hearing on education, of whatever nature. No school can be established and no teacher appointed without his approval, Ho can constitute a high school as readily as he can a primary school, and ho may authorise the opening of science classes whenever and wherever he pleases. The same wide powers are not possessed by the Victorian Minister of Education, although page 2 the government is essentially central and free from all forms of loca) control,

The absence in Now South Wales of administrative Board. Like the Education Boards in Now Zealand, has brought; into existence relations between the Department of Education and the teachers inch as are unknown in this country. All the teachers are Civil servants and ate subject to all the regulations of that service, whilst they are controlled in their work by no one except the inspectors acting for the Minister.

I have purposely made these explanations here as they will enable those who have little or no acquaintance with the systems of education in New South Wales and Victoria to understand the following remarks, dealing with the matters to which more particular attention was given by me.

In each of these five classes the teaching is non-sectarian, but it includes 'general religions teaching,' as distinguished from dogmatical or polemical theology. No mention is made in the New South Wales Education Act as to what the subjects of Instruction aro. In the public reports the best primary education is to be given, in the superior public schools the higher branches of knowledge are added, and in the high schools the curriculum is to be such as will fit students for the University. The regulations that are issued to teachers by the Minister of Education contain what may be termed his interpretation of the Act so far as relates to the work that must be done in each class of school. No mention is made of standards, passes, fallares, class marks, and such like terms which are so famlies those engaged in primary school work New Zealand.

A standard syllabus of [unclear: instruction] pass purposes, does not exist either [unclear: in] South Wales, or Victoria, and there is annual examination by the inspector of class promotion. Inspection and examination appear to be carried on in an effect manner, but the examination does not by the form of an individual pass or fails and the question of promotion is left a entirely in the hands of the principal teachers.

The syllabus of instruction is draw in half yearly courses, and all points any clases are supposed to prepare the extant of the syllabus, before passing to the next hight hall-yearly our The head or principal teacher is the or judge as to what pupil or pupils of be promoted from a lower to a big class. When visiting a school the images simply examines the pupils as to then [unclear: deficiency] in the several branches of [unclear: inspection]. No marks are made opposite a [unclear: peo] name to show either "pass" or [unclear: fai] but the general efficiency of the class estimated according to a standard of a prescribed by the Minsister of Education and the inspector's marks are entered in site each of the subjects examined.

It has been pointed out that the print teacher in each school is the sole judge to the promotion of his pupils. [unclear: Thi] great power in the hands of the test and where they have been trained and I come to recognise the need of thorough in preparatory work I see no reason such power should not be in their he But when everything has been said is of freedom of classification such as it New South Wales, the fact remains every school has a different basis of [unclear: sc cation], for it is impossible that the a classes can have reached a similar [unclear: st] of attainments when that standard is just and interpreted by each teacher [unclear: ac] to his own notions of efficiency and [unclear: teacing].

The full course of instruction own period of 8½ years, during which the pupil is supposed to have passed from infants' department through the five of that go to make up the upper part school. Two years are to be spent is infants' department, a year and a the first class, a year in the second years in the third, and a year each in fourth and fifth class respectively. Course of instruction is set out for guidance of teachers with 8much of fulness than with us. All the subject instruction that are entered as the [unclear: ne ments] for each class have to be takes [unclear: that] page 3 teachers and arrangements must be made in the school time-tables for their preparation.

In the first class, which is the equivalent of Standard I. under the New Zealand syllabus, the boys receive instruction in nine subjects and the girls ten. One of the subjects is [unclear: ture] reading, and the instruction that a given by the teachers is bases on certain [unclear: ks] belonging to the old Irish National [unclear: les], published many years ago instruction in this subject is separate and part from the which may be given daily of ministers of religion to the childran of [unclear: ir] respective persnasions, but to this [unclear: ct] of instruction, reference will be made recently. The second class embraces a [unclear: ae] of instruction equal to our Standard in schools where all the class and addtional subjects are taken.

The work set for the third and fourth [unclear: es] covers a period of three years; but he demands are equal to Standards III., [unclear: V] V., and VI. under the New Zealand regulations. Fuclid is a [unclear: com-] subject for all pupils of the fourth class. The following is the syllabus [unclear: bed] for the fifth class:—Course one [unclear: r] Beading, as prescribed for university junior examination; writing, asin fourth class; dictation, on unruled paper, ordinary [unclear: e] 15 consecutive lines; arithmetic, full these from Hamblin Smith's Manual or very equivalent; mensuration, regular [unclear: sur-] and solids; grammar, geography, [unclear: ey] as prescribed for Junior and Senior public examinations at the Sydney University; natural science, physics or physiology one of the science subjects prescribed for university examinations; cooking, for girls; [unclear: ey] kuclid (Books I-II), with easy series; algebra, Hamblin Smith's [unclear: al] to Chapter 13; Latin (boys), Abbott's [unclear: via] Latina" to page 53 with the 1st ugation and the verb sum; French [unclear: ea] Macmillan's Progressive French [unclear: ey] to the end, with Macmillan's First order to page 28 or an equivalent; needie-[unclear: ek] (girls), drill (boys and girls), music, of Seripture, as for fourth class.

There is nothing in the New Zealand [unclear: bus] of instruction corresponding to the are requirements, and which I saw being hight in every public school visited by me sydney. This kind of instruction can be given in schools where the attendence warants the formation of a fifth [unclear: es] are known as superior public schools. But the complete scheme of public education in New South Wales requires the [unclear: blishment] of high schools for both boys a girls, and these have been duly constituted in certain centres of population Sydney, Bathurst, and Muitland have each a separate high school for boys and girls, and examinations for admission to these are made half-yearly, in June and December.

At these examinations a certain number of scholarships and bursaries are offered for competition to fifth class and fourth class pupils. The scholarship and bursaries are tenable for a period of three years, and the holder of either is entitled to a freo grant of text books and free education in a state high school. The holder of a bursary is further entitled to an annual allowance of £30, should he be compelled to reside away from home in order to attend school. The fee charged for attendance at a high school is at the rate of £3 3s per quarter.

And here I would point out that fees are payable for attendance at the public schools under the New South Wales scheme of education Threepence is the weekly fee to be paid by every pupil, whether attending-the baby class in an infant school or the fifth class in a superior school. One shilling per week is the maximum amount payable for any number of children belonging to the same family, and provision is made to relieve parents for a time in case they are unable to pay the necessary fees

I found on enquiry that a good deal of a teacher's time is taken up every week in the collection of fees or in making out forms of exemption and re command at ions to send to the inspector of schools. When trade it good the school fees are paid with some regularity, and the master of a school with an attendance of more than 1300 pupils, told me that at the end of the December quarter of last year only about eight shillings remained unpaid in the boys' school, eleven in the girls', and £3 8s in the infants'.

On my mentioning that the teachers of New Zealand had nothing to do with the collection of the fees, the schools bring free to all pupila, it was generally conceded that the plan is a good one, although several teachers expressed themselves in favor of fees, for the reason that when parents paid directly into the school fund they took care to send their children more regularly to school I do not think, however, that the regularity of the children at school is as good in New South Wales as in New Zealand, although Section 21 of the Public Instruction Act in the former colony requires all children between the ages of sis and fourteen years to attend school for not less than seventy days in each half year.

II. Religious instruction.—I pointed out when naming the subjects of instruction, that provision is made in every public school page 4 for the giving of religious instruction by the State teachers. This instruction corner under the heading of "secular instruction," under the Act, and it is taught in the schools and is examined in the same way as any of the other subjects. I have a copy, the "programme of lessons," from the Cleveland street, superior school in Sydney, shawing the work for each week during the December quarter of last year.

The Scripture lessons are tabea from the Old and New Testament., and deal with subjects such as one was accustomed to teach in the denominational schools of England twenty-five years ago. But in addition to this, Section 17 of the Act provides that "not more than one hour daily shall be set apart when the children of any one religious persuasion may be instructed by the clergyman or other religious teacher of such peresuasion." Here the fullest liberty is given to the different religions bodies to give for mil rd ligio as instruction to the children of their own particular creed under the most favorable conditions.

Previous to the passing of the Act of Public Instruction under which the present scheme of education in New South Wales is controlled, grants were made to State and denominational schools a like the plan was found to be both costly and wasteful, as two or three small schools were often maintained in the smaller country townships whilst the total number of pupils was barely sufficient to constitute singlo fairly sized school. Schools were carried on by the Church of England, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan bodies, and all of them received grants for the maintenance of their schools.

By the Act of 1880 grants to demoninational schools were withdrawn subject to their continuance for a period of two years after the passing of the Act on condition that "all certified denominational schools in the meantime became subject to the tame course of secular instruction, the same regulations and the same inspection as were prescribed for the public schools," The right which is given in Section 17 of the Act to the clergyman or other duly authorised religious teacher to visit a public school for one hour daily was evidently conceded with the view of winning over the denominationalists to the public school system.

The only difference between the old and the new arrangement was that of control, but when the time came for the denomination a Lists to choose between State control and denominational control with the right to carry on the school in their own way, the Church of England and Roman Catholic bodies chose the latter.

I made careful enquiry as to whether in churches had svailed themselves of a rights possessed by them under the [unclear: th] Section of the Act, and I found that [unclear: ex] in one school, no Minister or religion teacher of any denomination, other the that of the Church of England, had [unclear: th] availed himself of a privilege such as is an secorded to religious bodies under any other public school system with which I as acquainted.

The ministers of the Church of England in sydney have an association to periods for religious instruction or dogma [unclear: Cat] given to the children of their own demination, and specially paid lay teachers as appointed to visit the public schools of places which ministers are unable to [unclear: th] Such teachers are known in the schools is visitors.

At one of the largest schools in Sydney heard a visitor of the Church of [unclear: Kn] give a lession to a class of 37 boys. It was the first lesson for the year, and some [unclear: th] was spent in taking the names of [unclear: pa] and making other enquiries as to [unclear: ca] abode, and such like. The lesson [unclear: a] based on the Church catechism and [unclear: a] following four questions were asked in [unclear: ex] order names:—(1) Where is the [unclear: ca] found? (2) What is the first question the catechism? (3) Sometimes the [unclear: ca] is taken out of the prayer book—Why? What answer would you give to question—What is your name?

One would think a scheme of [unclear: pa] instruction which admits of teaching [unclear: a] as this would be acceptable to all [unclear: th] denominationalists, but it is not so, and [unclear: a] same difficulties present themeselves in [unclear: pa] South Wales as with us, where the [unclear: th] system of instruction is purely secular.

During the progress of my enquired determined to see how the denomination schools fared in comparison with the [unclear: a] schools, and with this object in [unclear: ex] visited three of the voluntary schools [unclear: a] are maintained in Sydney by the Church England. The largest of them had [unclear: a] attendance of nearly 400 pupils. It was charge of an English trained teacher had been brought out from England was special engagement by the church [unclear: a] The fees paid by the children were [unclear: ca] those paid at the public schools, teaching staff was fairly large, [unclear: b] salaries were miserably small for the [unclear: a] that was being done. The school was good working order and I should any reached a very fair standard of [unclear: eff] Of the others, however, nothing [unclear: wa] page 5 mid beyond the fact that they were in a why poor state at the time of my visit.

In Sydney, which repressents in a large assure, the opinions of N. S. Wales, there is or there seems to be a stronger denominational feeling than with us in New Zealand. Fourteen years have gone by since grants were withdrawn from the denominational schools, and still efforts continue to be made to compete against the public schools, although, as I have shown, the fullest apportunities are open to the denominationalists to teach their own particular [unclear: ts] in the public schools to the children of there own respective persuasion. Why the denominationalists, or more particularely the Church of England and Roman Catholic bodies, persist in looking upon the Stte schools with disfavor, I do not how, but it strucks me that a system which had been until a few years ago mainly denminstional, and is even now "religious," right to show something in its favor when prepated with systems that are purely [unclear: ar] and free.

In Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and New Zealand the State system of education is both specular and free, but the practics of crime in New South Wales do not compare favorably with those of the colonies named. I do not suppose that a [unclear: th] register of police convictions in New South Wales is the outcome of too much religious instruction, but the face remains, [unclear: theless] that in spite of such instruction in the public and denominational schools of that colony the statistics of crime how higher than in either of the other named colonies

III. Cooking.—In the syllabus of instructor for the pupils in the fifth or highest class of the public school, cooking is named as one of the subjects for girls During one of my visits to the Fort street model school is Sydney, I had an opportunity of seeing two this subject is taught. No notice had been given of my intended visit, and having [unclear: th] an instrection of the boys' department, for the instruction of boys and girls carried on in different departments from the time the children quit the infants' room, servent with the principal of the school to speet the building where the girls receive [unclear: ex] training in the art of cooking.

My visit was unexpected, and the lady in large was engaged in giving a lesson to [unclear: pa] young girls who had come from three of the smaller schools in the town. The [unclear: pa] room where the pupils were as-[unclear: a] was fitted up as a lecture or de-[unclear: tration] room, andinstruction was thing given as to the way of providing a [unclear: a] dinner for twenty-four persons from the following ingredients:—Liver and bacon, beef steak, rhubarb, and eggs. In addition to the meat dishes, soup, sponge cake, and a rhubarb pie had to be provided. After receiving general instructions the girls were allotted their several tasks in the preparation of the food.

The kitchen contained six gas stoves for cooking, and two or three tablea, In an adjoining room there were places for " washing up," whilst the room used for dining purposes was so placed as to be in easy communication with the kitchen and the latter room, A different type of dinner is provided each school day by those girls who are entitled to attend the class, and each teacher at the Fort street school may partake of the dinner on payment of a daily charge of sixpence. It is found that this amount is sufficient to meet all expenses connected with the cooking department, and I was told that no lesson was more popular with the girls.

It should be mentioned that the girls get their dinner on payment of a penny and that they are also allowed to carry home to "mother," some little dainty of their own making, so as to show their growing skill in the art of cooking 1 did not Stay to partake of the dinner that was being cooked, though invited to do so hut from what I saw it is evident that for large centres the practicability of giving instruction to girls has been solved. The school workshops for boys which I saw will be noticed when dealing with the Technological Colleges.

IV. The Victorian syllabus of instruction does not call for much comment. It is much more limited than that of New South Wales. The Education Department has nothing to do with secondary or university education, and latterly the granting of State scholarships to pupils has been discontinued for economical reasons! The schools are free, compulsory, and secular, but pupils are required to purchase their own school books. In New South Wales, where fees are payable, the books and other requisites are provided free of charge.

The teachers are civil servants, and the schools are controlled directly by the central department without the intervention of any local or declive bodies. In the larger schools what are known as "extra subjects " may be taught, for which fees must be paid by the pupils. During 1894, 101 schools in the colony, or little more than 5 per cent of the whole, were taking extra subjects, some of which are compulsory in the schools under the New Zealand Standard' of instruction, Thus, singing is an extra subject, and in one of thy schools visited by me, the "music master" makes page 6 a weekly charge of ose penny to all pupils above the second class.

V. Method of conducting examinations.—It has been pointed out already that stand arde, paseas and fallares, as they are understood here, have no existence in the New Fourth Wales scheme of public instruction When an inspector visits a school for the purpose of examination he forms an estimate of the efficiency of each class by viewing it and the work it does as a whole or as an entity. The report forms of the inspector are not accompanied by a schedule of names with "pass" or "failure," marks placed opposite the name of each pupil examined.

The report deals, in order, with each subject that has to be prepared by the first or the fifth class as the cafe may be, and the inspector's value of the thoroughness of the preparation in any subject is represented by the maximum or by a proportion of the maximum number of marks assigned to a subject. Thus in the first and second classes reading has 100 marks to represent "excellent." These marks are allot tea:—For foundation, 60; spelling, 20; and for meanings, 20, Above the second class, poetry replaces spelling as a branch of reading. A similar plan is followed with respect to each of the other subjects

At the close of the examination the inspector makes his report, which he enters in an "Observation Book," and each teacher concerned reads the report in the inspector's presence A copy of the report is sent by the inspector to the Minister of Education, intimating at the same time that the report in the "Observation Book" was duly read by each teacher concerned.

This constitutes what is officially known as the annual inspection. Once, at least, in the year every school in an inspector's district must to visited and examined in the work authoritatively prescribed under the regulations.

The duties of the inspector are to enforce the provisions of the Public Instruction Act, to examine into the condition of the schools, to determine all questions of school management, to show teachers how defective methods may be improved, and to enquire into all matters which it may be expedient to report to the Minister. Teachers are required to carry out the suggestions of their inspector for the improvement of their schools, and to obey their instructions mall matters relating to the Public Instruction Act, as interpreted by the regulations issued under the authority of the Minister.

Whilst the inspector takes no part in a direct way in the clarification of pupils, he possesses powers much wider than those possessed under the New Zealand Act, as he really exercises all the authority in the way of local adminstration which Education Boards carry out in this country Under the New South Wales and Victoria systems of instruction the only binding authority in relation to the teachers in the Minister of Education, whose deputy the inspector is, and who carries out all during which are supposed to belong to the Minister.

The parents, who are directly affected by the condition of a school, have no contiuling voice whatever, but it is in their power to gain a complete knowledge of the working of any public school as the departments regulations provide that any person any visit a public school at any time during the hours of secular instruction and other how it is conducted. I do not think the advantage is offer, taken of this wise proving if one may judge from the entries in the "Visitors' Book" at the best school I am during my stay in Australia.

VI. Quality of Instruction.—What remaind I have to make on this subject have refernce to town schools only. The limited time a my disposal forced me to omit country schools from my programme of work, as my observations are much less useful the they would have been had it been passed for me to enquire into the working country schools.

The superior public school, Cleveland street, Sydney, was the first school visit by me in Australia, and I was improves with the way it is conducted. The building are of a flue sandstone, which is four on abundance everywhere within the lime of Sydney harbor, and there is seems dation for 2000 children. The school is the and the average attendance is 1700, or per cent of the roll number he best master was at one time principal of [unclear: a] training department for teachers, but a organisation of the department [unclear: be] about his transfernce to Cleveland street.

I first went over this school as a wish under the regulations and it was this admirable working order. In every [unclear: a] with one exception, the children [unclear: pa] busily at work in the subject as a forth in the class time table. The aception was a division of the "fifth" highest class in the school, which I [unclear: ex] occupied in the correction of "proof [unclear: a] for the headmaster. This occupation as once every month, and the pupils was evidently pleased to be entrusted with means it appears, is editor of the education newspaper which is published under auspices of the department, and the [unclear: pa] of certain pupils are utilised for the reaction of first proofs.

In this school I first became acq [unclear: a] with the face that in all the larger [unclear: sch] page 7 the boys and girls, on being transferred from the infant division, are taught in seperate departments as they are throughing for several years as headmaster, I taught under this plan in England, but I much prefer the New Zealand plan of mising the sexes, as it has, in my opinion, the moral and intellectual advantages in a favor.

The infants' and girls departments, taugh in good working order, did not [unclear: a] me like the boys' department, and had in my notes the same remark on each school visited by me—"The girls' and in-[unclear: a] departments not like the boys." The wants were doing arithmetic on slates, but noticed that Kindergarten instruction has made very little progress. The pupils were [unclear: a] on low forms, without desks, and [unclear: pa] were doing their work under conditions with have long been discontinued in [unclear: a] Bay, as being detrimental to the special and educational progress of young [unclear: dren].

The senior girls were arranged in the seeks of their class room doing calisthenic classes with "dumb bells." The day the very hot, but the time-table was being period out, although it seemed to me scmeing incongruous for girls to be using dumb bells," in a room where the [unclear: erature] was certainly more than 100 [unclear: a] Fah. The boys belonging to the [unclear: pa] division of the fourth class went tough some exercises in Swiss drill in very good style, and the part singing of the [unclear: a] and sixth classes under the direction of the head master, in such pieces as the Gipsy Chorus," "Hail Smiling Morn," of the "Three Chafers," was really ex-[unclear: a] The accompaniments were played a class pupils, one on the piano, and two [unclear: a] the violin.

I do not think that any other school [unclear: a] by me was equal in general efficiency a that of Cleveland street. The Fort street [unclear: a] school, which has an attendance of [unclear: ex] children, is worked under different conditions from the ordinary public schools, is not included in the comparison. This [unclear: th] not included in the comparison. This [unclear: a] is able to compete successfully with a high schools for university honors, and [unclear: ca] of such gained by the school public examinations is a long one. The [unclear: a] of Education and the Inspector-[unclear: a] of Schools, have both had charge the school before prowetion to the office inspector, and every effort is made to [unclear: a] it as the type of the public school and the training and recruiting ground for teachers.

The fifth class in the boys' department attendance of two hundred, and one most striking sights I saw in the educational world of Australia was the room where the majority of them were under instruction. The room is 80ft by 30ft, with desks six deep and arranged for four classes Each class was in charge of a young graduate from the university. The work being done was on the Unes of the syllabus I have already given as that required for a fifth class in a superior school except that for the highest division of the class, trigonometry (Todhuater's to page 104), Euclid Book III, and Algebra to quadratics, are compulsory, as representing the work for the third half year.

In the upper class, I have only judged of the character of the work done by the successes gained fn the public examinations, I saw the pupils at their studies and listened to the teachers whilst lessons were in progress, but the writing and drawing in the lower classes did not strike me as reaching a high standard. However, the syllable of instruction is a wide one—much wider than our own—and as the time for actual teaching is less than with us, it may be that a lower standard is accepted as satisfying promotion, than would he accepted as a "pass" in this country.

In one school I heard the mistress give a lesson to her fifth class girls on the "Geography of the British Colonies." The subject was intelligently treated, and a blackboard sketch added to the value of the lesson. The recapitulation, however, was disappointing, as the answering was imperfect and hardly such as might fairly be expected from a class of well-read girls.

The late Matthew Arnold refers, in one of his reports, to the answering of the children In German schools, and he points out " that it is a regular exercise for children to be made to give their answers complete," and that "the discipline in accuracy and collectedness which is thus obtained is very valuable." Every teacher of experience will folly recognise the truth of this statement.

In all the schools visited by me, I paid particular attention to this aspect of school braining, but only In the case of a single school do I remember to have heard anything to approach what is reported as being common in all German schools. This was in one of the smaller Sydney schools, where I listened with pleasure to a lesson on algebraical equations of two unknowns. The answering by the pupils showed rare intelligence, nor was the master satisfied until each pupil in turn explained on the blackboard the full meaning of his answer.

It is difficult to compare the Australian schools with our own, there being no common basis on which to form a judgment. In New South Wales the instruction is page 8 much wider in the upper classes, bat I do not think as much attention is paid to infant training As with ns in New Zealand. All the masters I met without exception appeared to me as men well qualified to discharge their responsible duties, but the women did not strike me in the same way.

No girls' or infants' department made the same impression on my mind as did even the least efficient of the boys. Departments, and I was more than surprised at some of the expressions used by lady teachers. On one occasion I entered a girls' department somewhat unexpectedly and the mistress in charge excused herself upon the condition of her class by remarking "that her girls had been on the loose all day." I do not know whether this is the ordinary language of the schools In Australia, but it would be deemed if not improper certainly very unusual if used under similar circumstances is New Zealand schools.

I did not see the arrangements for the training of lady teachers in New South Wales, but I was pleased with the way the young men are being trained for the profession of teacher. The influences art certainly goed, and must develop in them s love for their work and an ambition to maintain a high standard of efficiency in any schools over which they may be placed.

Victoria has no model school for the training of teachers corresponding to the Fort street school in Sydney. There is en "instruction class" for pupil teachers at the Working Men's College in Melbourne, under the direction of the Education Department, but there is no training institution and no system of scholarships for the benefit of those who have completed their engagement as pupil teachers. K either in the matter of primary education nor in the training and preparation of teachers can Victoria be compared with New South Wales, and it has yet t: formulate a scheme of secondary education In co-ordination with the work of the primary schools and adapted to the public requirements.

In our own country the Education Board; of Otago and Canterbury maintain institutions for the training of their own ex-pupil teachers, but the work is carried on without help from the Government There is, now ever, a wide contrast between the New South Wales training institution and those just named such as 1 saw them in February last. The model school in Sydney, where the public school teachers are trained for their profession, is kept up to the highest standard of efficiency, and is controlled directly by tin central department. The practising school is a type which is presented to young people who will be the schoolmasters of to-morrow and all their training is anticipatory of progress and development such as centraldemands. At present nothing is does this way by the New Zealand Governers and it can hardly be expected that is boards of education will be all supply such a public want.

VII. Salaries.—The payment of salries based on a different principle from the which regulates payment under most of Education Boards in this country, schools are classed according to [unclear: a] teachers holding a certain certificate [unclear: a] titled to have charge of a certain class school. To each class of school a fixed of is payable, and in addition resident either "vested or rented," are provides married male teachers. A different [unclear: a] is payable in the case of mistress of assistant teachers, in the larger [unclear: ex] who hold full certificates of comp[unclear: th] are entitled to have charge of schools

Under the New South Wales systems schools are arranged in ten classes, to with an average attendance of 600 or being of the first class; those between and 600 of the second class; between and 400 of the third class; between and 300 of the fourth class; and so[unclear: pa] the tenth class is reached, which [unclear: a] schools with an average below 20. first class of school can only be placed charge of a teacher who holds the [unclear: ex] departmental certificate and known [unclear: a] the second class of school can be [unclear: ex] teachers who have certificates is third class by those who have II. honors; and the fourth class by the who have II.B.

The salary payable to masters in a of schools of the first class is [unclear: a] annum; in second class school salary payable is £319 in third is schools, £228. The mistress of [unclear: a celves] a salary of £285 per [unclear: a] second class schools the salary is [unclear: th] the third class £194, and the fourth £182. The salary payable to the [unclear: a] of the infants' department is [unclear: ca] lower and ranges from £194 in a [unclear: pa] the first-class to £160 in the fourth [unclear: day]

The pupil teachers are wellpaid, as salaries range from £40 to £68 per cent cording to class, in the case of male from £23 to £46, in the case of female schools of the first and second class of mistresses are employed to give speed struction to the girls in needle work, [unclear: a] does not exempt the regular teachers staff from giving similar instruction of pupils The salaries of work [unclear: a] vary from £86 to £114 per annum.

The civil service system of paying of in Victoria is very complex, there [unclear: a] page 9 many as thirty-two classes and sub-classes for male teachers and nineteen such classes for female teachers. The highest position a teacher can occupy is the eighth division of the first class. There are eight classes and in certain of them eight divisions, and the rate of salary depends on the class and divisions in which a teacher may be placed by the Department of Education.

The highest fixed salary which is paid to teachers is £288 per annum, and the lowest [unclear: a] in the case of males and £56 females. These latter salaries are paid to teachers in charge of the eighth class of schools. The highest fixed salary of an assistant teacher [unclear: a] the rate of £164 per annum for males and £122 for females, and the lowest £130 for males and £85 for females. In addition of these amounts there is a further payment which is made to the principal and assistant teachers only by way of results.

The maximum payment which any teacher can obtain in this way may equal as half of his fixed salary. Thus a teacher possessing a certificate of the highest as might receive under the most favor-[unclear: a] conditions £144 by way of results, or total salary of £432 per annum, whilst a teacher in the lowest class school under [unclear: ca] conditions might raise her salary to rate of £84 per annum. The result conditions, however, are so numerous, and [unclear: a] affected in so many ways that few others, I imagine, succeed in obtain-[unclear: th] the maximum grant.

When schools are provided with residences [unclear: a] is charged to the head teacher, who is required to keep his residence in good re-[unclear: ex] at his own cost, and on leaving the school he is required to furnish a report by himself and his successor as to the edition in which every thing is left. I do [unclear: pa] know the price of house rent in Victoria, [unclear: a] it appears to me the teachers in New South Wales have the better arrangement, as the system under which they work clearly produces a healthier tone in the schools and [unclear: a] the teachers themselves. At least, this is my opinion, after an impartial [unclear: pa] into the working of both systems.

The power of appointment rests solely with the Minister, No exercising control can devolve upon a district unless through what I suppose must be termed a political channel, and in many cases no appointments are made. A body of men without the right to exercise separate control is not likely to become popular among people or prove effective as an instrument of good, and I was informed by the principal of one of the Sydney schools, that although a Board of Advice had been appointed for his district he had not seen any of the members, and did not think they had held any meetings.

One can well understand that a popular school hardly needs a board to carry out the duties such as I have mentioned, but a school represents something more than a political institution, for every parent has a direct interest in its well being, and is more concerned in its success than in any other Government institution which deals directly with the social, moral, and material progress of a people.

Under the Victorian Act of 1890, Boards of Advice are made elective, and their duties are more extensive than in New South Wales, but an officer of the department stated to me that it is often difficult to find a sufficient number of persons who care to become members of such boards. The enforcement of attendance is directly controlled by the central department, but no action is taken in New South Wales unless recommended by teachers through the inspector. In Victoria, Boards of Advice may recommend prosecutions for non-attendance, and these are undertaken either directly by the department or by truant officers who are appointed by the Government to enforce the compulsory clause of the Act.

In the Victorian report for the year ending December 1894, the central department in Melbourne is returned as having authorised 456 prosecutions against parents, and 2312 were authorised by the Boards of Advice. During the past five years the cost of truant officers in Melbourne and the other more important centres of population, has averaged about £7000 a year Still, the returns of attendance hardly show a satisfactory state of things. Compared with the roll number the average attendance was only 65-03 per cent for the year 1894, but this is even higher than in one of the large Melbourne schools I visited, where the average attendance was below 58 per cent of the roll.

These results are much lower than those in New Zealand where the average attendance for the year 1894 was 80 6 per cent of the toll number or a difference in favor of this colony of more than 15 per cent. Here, however, the enforcement of attendance is purely local, yet comparatively few prosecutions are undertaken, it being certain that the election of local committees exercises a direct influence upon the attendance in almost every school district

IX. Teachers' Duties—The absence of School Committees and Education Boards, and the recognition of teachers as civil servants, make it necessary for the teaching staff in every school to be responsible for the performance of duties which are usually undertaken by committees and oven by Education Boards in Now Zealand, Head teachers arrange for the cleaning of school rooms and out-premises, the warming of the building, and all matters which must be undertaken by the central department where local government is wan tic g, A monthly allowance is made to a head master to provide for the due performance of the work, but more than once complaints reached mo of the insufficiency of the grant, which had often to be made up out of ordinary salary. I did not obtain a copy of the scale of payments to teachers for carrying out those services, but in one Urge school of over 1300 children the master received a monthly allowance of a little more than £7 a sum which would certainly be considered inadequate in this country.

X. School building.—None of the buildings I saw impressed me as representing atypical modern public school. Both in Sydney and Melbourne one sees bigness everywhere, but there i a no type or general plan such as the schools themselves present, and such as one woo Id expect to find under the special environment and climatic conditions of the two colonies. Ornamentation is absent everywhere, and the buildings gave one the idea of a constant patching and enlarging to meet the constant demands of a rapidly in orea ting population [unclear: la] most of the schools the light is defective and the dull green paint which covers the walls of the room from the floor for a height of fire feet or more gives the rooms a sombre and unattractive appearance

The school desks are made up of iron stands with a simple eloping top of dark cedar-like wood without lookers or arrangements of any kind for books or slates. Each desk is made to accommodate about eight pupils, and they are usually arranged six deep, and run the full length of the schoolroom. The more modern types of apparatus and appliances are wanting and schoolroom ornamentation appears to receive no attention or encouragement There of no shelter sheds in the school grounds [unclear: a] as are provided for the children here. [unclear: ca] the need may not be great, as the child usually go home for dinner and return few minutes before the time for begining afternoon studies.

XI. General Remarks.—Before proceeds describe the work of the technical school I would like to say here that I left [unclear: a] with a good opinion of the work the being attempted in the public schools, [unclear: a] more particularly the schools of New South Wales. The system of public instruction the latter colony may be capable of [unclear: a] improvements, but it is one well fifted meet the wants of a free people. What specially of value in it is the power it is of expansion and adaptability. It may that subjects of instruction are [unclear: intro] into the school course that are not [unclear: ne] and others of value may perhaps be [unclear: paying], but defects of this sort can be read without the help of an Amending Education Act, or without fear of hard criticism.

The system is an education system [unclear: ex] truest sense, and it is provided for they and benefit of all people in the commen seeing that it supplies education for [unclear: the ren] from the cradle to the university is arranged on the lines of the [unclear: ca] school system, which views education a growth or a development, and children, when they begin their school must begin in the primary school, and this they may pass on to the secondery thence to the university by means of saries and scholarships, or failing these fees, so long as their parents are willing make the necessary sacrifices for their [unclear: ex] and education.

It is here that the public system of instruction in New South Wales is so [unclear: ex] in advance of our own. The [unclear: pa] schools of New Zealand have no must rising to better or to higher things schools above them by special Act any below them in efficiency and as [unclear: pa] of knowledge, there being no public [unclear: a] of secondary education co-ordered with of our primary schools. The one-[unclear: pa] the New South Wales scheme, have constitutes both its strength and its [unclear: ex] In efficient hands it is even now [unclear: ca] great results but its danger lies in its tralism and absolutism.

With good men at the helm such as now there autocracy may continue to [unclear: parish] even in a democratic community undoubtedly the systems of public education in New South Wales and Victoria severely autocratic. Education is [unclear: th] the people, but the people have no [unclear: ex] ling voice in those colonies beyond [unclear: a] page 11 their representatives may say in the Parliament of the country. The will of the Minister of Education is the will of his executive officers, whose authority extends into every schoolroom and influences the [unclear: ex] of every child in the public schools. Local interest is dead, for the people have [unclear: pa] become the true Lotus-eaters of education, the only prevailing thought [unclear: th] them being the right to have their children taught in Government schools. A [unclear: pa] such as this may free the teachers [unclear: th] local oversight and harass such as way teachers have felt in New Zealand, [unclear: ex] I doubt whether a teacher's independence is as great in Australia as in New Zealand, and certainly there is much less [unclear: pa] for the growth of individuality in Australian schools, because everything in school management and control has to be [unclear: ex] out according to orders, issued by [unclear: ex] central department

If local government such as we have in this country had free scope in dealing with scheme of public instruction like that of New South Wales, I do not doubt that the results would be better than they now are public interest in the progress of education [unclear: ex] of paramount importance, for once the [unclear: ca] recognise the need they devise means sustain that need, though the central authority should be weak and impotent. [unclear: ex] districts in this country vie with each [unclear: th] in making their schools attractive and [unclear: ca] and though school committees [unclear: th] overstep the bounds of prudence matters relating to school government, [unclear: pa] this is to be preferred to the deadness [unclear: ca] the indifference which are the products centralism under which the self-reliance of a people is slowly but surely destroyed, [unclear: ex] dependence is fostered and recognised a necessary constituent of democracy.

XII. Technical instruction.—Most of my [unclear: pa] evenings were spent in the pursuit of instruction bearing on the question of technical education, and nothing I saw in Australia made a stronger impression on my [unclear: ca] than the work that is being done at [unclear: pa] Working Men's College, Melbourne, [unclear: ca] the Sydney Technological College.

These institutions are of recent growth, [unclear: ex] already they have reached a standard of efficiency that promises well for the [unclear: ture].

The Working Men's College in Melbourne established mainly through the [unclear: munifi-pa] of the late Hon F. Ormond, M. L C., Who At Various Times Gave Large Sums Of every towards the erection of the buildings which have been provided at a cost of about [unclear: 000] The Technological College in Sydney was erected by the Government at a cost of more than £60,000, whilst a Technological Museum has been added at an additional cost of £20,000. These institutions have been founded to facilitate the attainment of a knowledge of handicrafts, sciences, and languages by the people in each colony.

Classes for instruction under each group are carried on during the year by practical teachers and the popularity of them may be estimated by the fact that between two and three thousand students are enrolled each pear as students at each college.

The Sydney Technical College Is under the control of the Education Department and the connection is being utilised for the introduction of manual training into the public schools.

All students at the Fort street training allege for teachers have to undergo a two years course of instruction in manual training whilst the lads belonging to the high schools and public schools are required to pass through a three years' ocurre. Both courses are carefully drawn up but as I only saw the lads at work I give their syllabus here in the hope that it may be of direct value to the schools. The course was being carried out in the workshops at the Technical College, where the boys from the high schools and certain of the superior schools receive regular instruction in manual training and physics.