P.—No. 1.

the greatest possible benefit. They should be regarded as feeders, so to say, to the higher scholarships. 3.] It is essential, I think, that the Board of Examiners should consist, in part at least, of men who have, or have had, actual experience in the work of tuition, who are, or have been, masters of schools. It is not sufficient that they should be University men, and otherwise competent. It is essential that the examiners should meet at a central place, say at Wellington. It is not essential perhaps, but it is advisable, that they should be chosen from different parts of New Zealand. A large standing Board of Examiners, chosen from all the different Provinces, and from which the examiners for each particular examination might be selected, according to some fixed plan, would probably be the course which would give the greatest general satisfaction. The acting examiners only would receive payment, as a matter of course. It seems to me also to be essential that the candidates for the University Scholarships should go to Wellington, their expenses being of course paid. But, in order to limit this expenditure as much as possible, and for other reasons, there should be a tolerably rigid preliminary examination or sifting of candidates in each Province, which might be conducted by the members of the General Board of Examiners resident in each Province. The Provincial Section of the General Board of Examiners might also examine for the exhibitions founded by the General Government in connection with particular schools. The papers might, it is true, be sent down to each Province, and be returned to the Board; but, as the competition between different Provinces would be very strong, I am afraid it would be impossible to avoid suspicion of favouritism and unfair advantage. Besides, the examiners would have to remain in session a much longer time according to this plan, which would make the expense greater than would be incurred by bringing picked candidates to a central place. 4.] The Universities of Great Britain and Ireland, not those of the Continent of Europe or of Australia. The particular University to be selected by the successful candidate. 5.] Certainly not less than £200 per annum. Considering that the expenses of the first and last year would be much larger than those of the intervening years, the expenses, namely, of the vovagc to and fro, of caution-money, furniture of rooms, fees as taking degrees, &c.; it might be advisable to make the amount larger for the first and last year. Supposing a scholarship to be tenable for four years, its value might be £250 or £300 for the first and last years, and £200 for each of the two intervening years. The larger amount for the last year might be made conditional on the scholar's return to this country. C] The subjects of examination for the University Scholarships should be confined, I think, at least for the present, to Classics, Mathematics, History, ancient and modern, and Latin and English Prose Composition. Other subjects may be added afterwards, if found desirable; but it is better, I think, to confine the area at first within narrower limits than those which are customary in the Schools and Universities of England, if superior proficiency, and the credit of the Colony, arc to be considered objects to be aimed at. For this reason, I think that Latin and Greek Verse, Composition, Modern Languages, and Physical Science, had better to be kept in the background for the present. The subjects of examination for the School Exhibitions, should, I think, be the same, a lower standard of proficiency being adopted, and special regard being paid to grammatical accuracy, an object which maybe secured by allowing a larger number of marks in proportion for the grammar paper. As to age, I would fix no minimum limit for either class of scholarships, but the maximum should be, I think, for the University Scholarship, twenty; for the School Exhibitions, sixteen. The only other limitations that occurs to me as desirable, is that candidates for the University Scholarships should have been resident in New Zealand for one year at least before the date of election; and candidates for the School Exhibitions, not less than six months. 7.] lam of opinion that the time is not yet come for this. If such a Board of Examiners were formed as has been before recommended, a University may grow out of it. A University in the sense of a Board of Examiners for granting degrees may be found desirable, at a comparatively early date, and would involve little expense. But the formation of a Staff of Professors for the purpose of delivering lectures to students at a central place in New Zealand would, I believe, prove an absolute failure for many years to come as regards numbers —and numbers, it should be borne in mind, are a very essential feature in the success of a University. And even if there were a prospect of attracting numbers, the effect would, I believe, in a moral point of view, be exceedingly mischievous. To attract a number of young men from a distance, and cast them loose on a Colonial town without Collegiate discipline, would be nothing less than this. *#* Very strict certificates should be required from the University or College authorities before payment of the quarterly amount due on any scholarship, as to the moral character and studiousness of the holder of it. It should be made a condition of granting any scholarship that the holder should be liable to be suspended or deprived, if such certificate were not satisfactory. It may be worth consideration whether some deduction should not be made from the amount payable, if an unsatisfactory report of the diligence and progress of the student were

22

REPORT OE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE