C—lb

64

The attendance in the preceding years, including only those who completed the course and obtained class certificates, was as follows :— Ordinary Course Further Course (Fifty Lectures with (Second Half of Excursions). Winter Session). 1908-9 ... ... ... ... ... 8 1909-10 .. ... ... ... .. 22 1910-11 ... ... ... ... ... 22 16 THE SCHOOL OP FORESTRY, FOREST OP DEAN. Regulations. 1. The school is for working-men only. 2. Only those willing and able to perform the ordinary work of a Crown workman will be received. When not in school students will be under the same regulations as Crown workmen, and will have to work under the orders of the Crown woodman of the district to which they are sent at any work ordinarily done by Crown workmen. 3. The ordinary hours of work are from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with half an hour off for breakfast and one hour for dinner; but for six weeks before and after Christmas the hours are from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., with half an hour for breakfast and half an hour for dinner. Every alternate Saturday is a half-holiday, the men working till 1 p.m. When the distance to the work is more than three miles from a student's lodging, a time allowance of seventeen minutes is allowed for each extra mile. Usually two afternoons a week, from 1.30 p.m. to 4 p.m., are spent in the class-room. 4. Students must bo between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, inclusive, on the date of admission. Students over this age will only be admitted under special circumstances. 5. For the present tho number of students to bo admitted in any one year is limited to twelve. 6. These twelve places will bo first offered to men already in the Crown employ, whether in the Forest of Dean or elsewhere. 7. Vacancies, after providing for persons in the Crown employ, will be open to others. 8. Students pay all travelling-expenses to and from the Forest of Dean. 9. The following are the rules as to pay : — (a.) Students already in the Crown employ in Dean Forest will draw the same pay as they arc already receiving; if getting less than 2s. 6d. per diem, they will be given this amount from date of admission to the school. (b.) Students already in the Crown employ on estates other than Dean Forest, will, while at the school, receive 15s. per week from the Dean Forest funds. The deputy surveyor or Crown receiver of any other Crown estate may, however, recommend promising students for an additional allowance, to be paid from the funds of that estate, on condition that the student agrees to return at the end of the school course to work on the estate which has paid the allowance The amount of the allowance will in each case be decided by the Commissioner of Woods and Forests. (c.) Students not already in the Crown employ will be paid 15s. per week. (d.) No student will get any increase of pay while at the school. (c.) On days when, owing to the weather, no work can be done, no pay is given, the. rule "No work, no pay," being strictly adhered to. On the average, students lose about twelve days' work and pay in the year on this account. 10. A building has been erected at Parkend, where the classes arc held, and lodgings are provided in this building for eight students, a preference being given to students in the first year of the course. A. cleaner and cook is provided by the Crown., and students lodging there pay lis. per week for board, lodging, and washing. 11. When there is no vacancy in the school building, board and lodgings can be obtained in Parkend at from lis. to 12s. per week. 12. The amount received for pay will usually cover all expenses. If it is insufficient an allowance must be obtained from parents or others. 13. No charge is made for the education given, and all necessary books and stationery will be supplied by the Crown, but axe, spade, and other implements, except felling-saws, must be provided as required by the students. These usually cost about 15s. in all. 14. The course of lectures will extend over a period of two years, beginning the first week in October in each year. 15. The instruction given will extend over the whole subject of forestry, theoretical and practical, including subsidiary subjects necessary to a forester; the instruction given in the class-room and forest is designed to make a student thoroughly qualified to act as forester or woodman on any estate in the United Kingdom. 16. Periodical examinations will be held by the instructor, and by E. P. Popert, Esq., Braceland, near Coleford, Gloucestershire. At the end of tho course a final examination, theoretical and practical, will be held. Students who satisfy the examiners will receive a certificate signed by the Commissioner of Woods and Forests. 17. The fact of having successfully passed the 'school examinations will give no claim for promotion in the Crown Service. Ordinarily, other qualifications being equal, a passed student will be preferred for promotion over a man who has not been through the school course. 18. Misbehaviour or unsatisfactory progress during the course of study will render a student liable to immediate dismissal from the school. 19. If applications for trained men are received from private estates these will be offered