ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, AUGUST 7, 1893. 9 
was in effect the argument, supplemented by the statement that 
our teachers are not recognised, upon which Sir Robert Menzies 
based a demand for the stoppage of our course. I don’t know 
what is Sir Robert Menzies’s idea of a recognised lecturer, but as 
Colonel Bailey, the University lecturer, in whose interest Sir 
Robert Menzies apparently believed he was speaking when he 
made this attack upon us, has kindly undertaken to lecture to our 
men on forestry, I must suppose that Colonel Bailey only 
speaks with authority from his official chair. I can pass by the 
suggestion of our rivalry with the University with a reference 
to previous utterances, and to the discussion in the Scotsman. 
I have hesitated to say anything about this matter to-day, 
because I hate such disputations, and the criticism of our work 
being so absurd and inconsequential, anyone in the smallest degree 
acquainted with the facts would see that the statement carried its 
own refutation; but as I had to allude to the carrying on of our 
course, I felt that expressions regarding it, used by one in so 
prominent a position as the chairman of the Forestry Committee 
of the Highland and Agricultural Society, might be accepted by 
those not conversant with the circumstances were I to pass them 
by without some protest. I must think it unfortunate that 
reckless assertions of this kind, which are not calculated in the 
least to promote the cause of forestry, should be made by those 
professedly speaking in its support. 
With reference now to University education (which I speak of 
after dealing with our garden course, because it leads up to a 
suggestion with which I shall conclude my remarks to-day), the 
past year has not been uneventful. Forestry has been assigned 
a place in the University curriculum for the degree of Batchelor of 
Science in Agriculture. The ordinance of the Commissioners 
regulating the degree in agriculture has now come into force, and 
though forestry is only an optional subject, we must be thankful, 
on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread, that so 
much has been gained. With the realisation of the importance of 
forestry, further recognition of its right place will come. 
The University lecturer, Colonel Bailey, has vigorously carried 
on the course of lectures in the University, having an attendance 
of 13 students,—an increase on the preceding year, and a 
fairly-sized class for a subject not compulsory in a curriculum. 
He has kindly supplied me with information regarding his men, 
from which it appears that land agents and men of such status, 
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