E.--14.

He has, however, fallen into the error of thinking that I intend this scheme to be confined to university men. In dealing with Imperial matters, it seems to me that nothing but tin- broadest will do. There are no restrictions as to academic qualification. There are no cast iron rules about diplomas ami degrees. We want the men who can serve the Empire l«'st. irrespective of mere book-learning. "A New Zealand Editor" is correct in his statements about the Rhodes scholars. The fact is that the Rhodes scheme is a scheme tor the benefit of individuals rather than for the Empire. I fully appreciate ''A New Zealand Editor's" remarks about women being allowed lo take part in the scheme. Coining as I do from a land which places woman in her right position, it is but natural that I have had that in my mind. If a woman ran serve the Empire Utter than a man. surely she should have the opportunity. This, in my mind, follows so naturally that I should no t c state it than Ido that I require money to carry out this scheme. In .New Zealand our women have nobly borne a 11 us! most freely given, as women always will. They have shown US clearly what we never doubted — that woman's influence iii political life must make for good. The idea of " A New Zealand Editor " as to approaching the various Slates and Dominions of the Empire is good, and. as a matter of fact, is being acted on now. It is now certain that my scheme will lie in operation within a short time. It is four or five years since I started work on it. and I have, particularly recently, received the greatest encouragement and assistance. The time is absolutely ripe for putting it into active operation, and no time is to be lost in doing so. P. A. Vaii.k. Mn. Y.mlk's Imperial Scholarship Scheme. Sir, — (To tin- Editor of the Evening Standard nml Si. James's Gazette.) "Some such plan is certainly worth a trial, if we mean to make an end of baffling and hampering ignorance. It WOuld be the complement of the' labours of the Press Conference." The above extract from your Note in a recent issue in which you discuss ami favourably criticize Mr. P. A. Yaile's scheme for sending to the oversea dominions the brainiest products of the universities of the United Kingdom tempts me lo offer a few words of encouragement to its promoter, who, in my bumble .judgment, is proceeding on sounder lines than the author id' tinproposal for an exchange of university students within the Empire. The Rhodes Scholarship scheme was admittedly conceived in a spirit of broad Imperialism, its objective being to enable the very pick of the products of the colonial universities to proceed to Oxford, there to acquire the democratic air. literary tastes, ami aspirations of that ancient seat of learning, and thereafter to return to the land of their birth or adoption and spread among their own people the benefit of the liberal education that Oxford is able io impart. It was a magnificent conception; out is it likely to be wholly and entirely realised? There is every reason to believe that Oxford is receiving from the oversea dominions, as well as from the United States, the creim //, hi i/iiiii of the graduates of the universities of these countries, selected in all cases with scrupulous regard to the terms of Mr. Rhodes's will by impartial and independent selectors: but thus early in the operation of the scheme a barge proportion of I he Rhodes scholars are not likely to become men of light ami leading in their own countries, which apparently do not offer to them the attractions and emoluments of older lands. So [ai as nn own country (New Zealand) is concerned, il is true that the first of our Rhodes scholars (Mr. Thomson) on his return to the Dominion accepted a lectureship at Victoria College, Wellington: but the satisfaction over his decision was w\\ shortlived, because before he took up his work it was announced that he hail been offered and had accepted a more lucrative position in Australia. Another Rhodes scholar from New Zealand who has just gained his degrt f science with honours at I4.dp.sie is off to Rangoon, and lam told that our third scholar has already had his attention drawn to the possibilities id" the Indian Civil Service. Nobody can blame these young men, who have to make their way in an already overcrowded world, for seeking pastures that are likely to yield them at an early period of their careers the substantial realisation of their hopes: but if their example is to be generally followed, will the underlying principle of the Rhodes bequest be given effect to? On the other hand, if Mr. Yaile's scheme materialises, the "intellectuals" of the United Kingdom will be given an opportunity of studying on the ground the political, social, and educational problems that are being today grappled with and yet remain lo Im. solved by the oversea dominions. 1 purposely employ the phrase intellectuals'' because 1 trust that Mr. Vaile and those helping him to elaborate his scheme will not confine its benefits to oik' university, nor restrict them to one section of students. If hi' hopes to appeal to the colonies for monetary assist aiicc. as I naturally oonclude he intends doing at the psychological moment, he can only l>c success fill by demonstrating that the newer universities, as well as the two most ancient seats of learning in England, are included in his scheme, and that female as well as male graduates shall !*■ eligible for selection. There must be no bar of nationality or of sex. There are in Australia and New Zealand important economic issues to be settled which concern the welfare of our womanhood quite as much as the sterner sex, and the consideration of those problems by intellectual British women with open minds will l>e most helpful I would counsel Mr. Yaile, when he has worked out the details of his scheme to his own satisfaction, to lay them before the Prime Ministers of the several oversea dominions, and bespeak their support on purely Imperial grounds. Of late years the consolidated revenue of my own colony has been frequently and largely drawn upon in aid of projects that were thought to have a nexus witji Imperial consolidation, and on all these occasions the vote was awarded with such practical unanimity as to warrant me in saying that the average colonist is prepared to do his duty in strengthening the bonds of Empire on purely sentimental

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