396 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



carried on "extension work" in forty-seven centres in Eng- 

 land. The attendance at the classes established in these 

 centres averaged 11,595 students for the year. The London 

 Society carried on similar work, and had an attendance of 

 13,000 students, whilst the University of Oxford and the 

 Victoria University had an attendance of nearly 19,000. 

 Hence we have the remarkable fact that by means of classes 

 in connection with four educational centres 43,595 students 

 have been added in a single year to the list of those who 

 come into direct contact with the higher educational in- 

 fluence of the universities. We need not enter here into 

 an estimate of the effects such increase of students is likely 

 to have upon the future thought and mind of England, but it 

 can hardly be doubted that the universities and the nation 

 as a whole will be largely benefited by the adaptive process 

 which is going on. Each university has become a new 

 source of educational vitality, and the directive tendency 

 that is being given to students in the pursuit of a definite 

 course of study is of high moment, whether considered from 

 an individualistic or from a national point of view. 



The widening of educational advantages is of high im- 

 portance to those who are engaged in business pursuits during 

 the day. Such persons enjoy the fullest opportunities for 

 study if they so desire, and the smallness of the fee demanded 

 for attendance at the university classes is such that even the 

 poorest in the community may share with the richest the edu- 

 cational benefits such as the opening of "extension classes" 

 has made possible. New Zealand has not yet arrived at that 

 stage when the citizens of our growing towns have come to 

 feel the necessity of doing something to extend the educa- 

 tional benefits of the people in the higher fields of learning, 

 and outside what may be set down as work belonging to the 

 government of the country. As colonists we are collectivists 

 in matters educational, and on the whole the people appear to 

 be quite satisfied with what the Government does for educa- 

 tion. Our country has few manufactures, and the question of 

 over-population is not one likely to cause anxiety among us 

 for many years to come. The question of the advancement of 

 the arts and sciences is not just now of pressing importance, 

 and, unfortunately, it is seldom that men in any country antici- 

 pate future needs. To satisfy the wants of to-day is in the 

 mam accounted sufficient, and hence it is that as colonists 

 our people have hardly reached that stage in social and 

 political evolution such as the people of older countries like 

 England and elsewhere have attained. Our public scheme of 

 education has satisfied the people — far too easily it appears to 

 me — and there are many to be found who think that the 

 system is second to none. It is a serious mistake to make, 



