ANNUAL EEPORT. 317 



1913. 



Director of Education. f Mr. Stephens retaiiied this office 

 until his retirement in 1894. 



The Educational Record of 15th December, 1913, in 

 an official notice of his work, says : — "The first body of th© 

 "regulations issued under the Department was the work 

 "of his hands, and proved to be an admirable foundation 

 "for the larger superstructure which the advancement of 

 "the State and the consequent development of the Depart- 

 "'ment have called lor. Mr. Stephens administered the 

 "regulations with inflexible fidelity, being immovably firm 

 "in the maintenance of discipline, showing at the same 

 "time a sympathetic consideration for the teachers under 

 "his charge, due in part to his fine qualities as an educated 

 "gentleman and in part to the long and intimate acquaint- 

 "ance he had had with the work of teachers in all parts of 

 "the island.'' 



Mr. Stephens's duties as Inspector of Schools took him 

 into all the settled districts of Tasmania, and he acquired 

 an intimate knowledge of the geology and physical features 

 of the island. In 1861-2 he was an active member of the 

 Northern Board of Works, under whose direction the prin- 

 cipal lines o<f road through the then little-known north- 

 egistern and noiiih-western districts were planned and com- 

 menced. His interest in geology lasted through his whole 

 life. He was a fellow of the Geological Society of London, 

 and his geological writings extend over nearly fifty years. 



Mr. Stephens's interest in education was not limited 

 to the Education Department. When a scheme for re- 

 establishing Christ's College was under consideration by 

 the Supreme Court in 1876, he suggested the setting aside 

 of surplus revenue for a building fund. The building fund 

 thus established amounted in 1912 to about £20,000, and 

 rendered possible the 2^i'esent re-establishment of the 

 College. In 1877 the Anglican Synod elected Mr. 

 Stephens a member of the first Council of the College. In 

 1882 he was able to render great assistance to the College 

 in resisting a proposal, brought before Parliament under 

 a misconception of the origin of the College, to appropriate 

 its funds for a Government institution. In 1891 he was 

 elected President of the Council, and he retained this office 

 until a few months before his retirement from the Council 

 in 1911. The scheme for the reorganisation of the College 

 approved by the Supreme Court in 1912 was largely due 

 to Mr. Stephens, although he was opposed to some of it# 



t The foregoing particulars are taken for the most part from Mennell's Diction 

 aril of Australasian Biograi)hy (1892). 



