78 



number of our Belgian Congo State agriculturists to Java, to 

 let them see and judge of that 'established colony, where the 

 tropical plantations are quite up to date. It is still possible 

 that an agricultural school may be established in Java. Our 

 scheme ran as follows : First, the students would have to 

 graduate in a European school of agriculture, and acquire the 

 necessary knowledge in natural science and general agriculture. 

 Secondly, this would enable the school of tropical agriculture 

 to have a programme of only one year's education. Its 

 teaching would be almost entirely practical, and would be 

 given by specialists. These specialists would be selected from 

 amongst men thoroughly acquainted with agricultural prac- 

 tice by several years of work either on tropical stations, cattle- 

 breeding stations, or in laboratories for the study of tropical 

 agriculture. Special value would be set on practical lectures 

 delivered by managers of large plantations and factories. 

 For instance, the cultivation of the sugar cane should be 

 shown on a big sugar estate, and the cultivation of tobacco on 

 a large tobacco plantation. If the course of study is reduced 

 to one year only, it means a great saving of money, both for 

 the school and for the scholars. Now where is that school 

 of tropical agriculture to be established in the West or in 

 the East ? I leave this question for the consideration of more 

 competent members of the Congress. Ceylon is, of course, 

 a splendid colony, but I venture to express my opinion that 

 two. schools, one in the East and one in the West, would meet 

 the requirements better than a single school the natural 

 conditions being quite different. I should add that if there 

 is a school established either in the East or in the West the 

 Belgian Congo will certainly wish to send some students to 

 learn' from the experience of the older colonies. 



M. Leplae then described briefly the scheme of elementary 

 agricultural schools for natives in the Congo, referred to in 

 his paper (p. 69). 



Mr. H. A. TEMPANY (Superintend'enit of Agriculture, Lee- 

 ward Islands) : Mr. President and Gentlemen The scheme 

 of education carried out in the Leeward Islands is to a large 

 extent outlined in Dr. Watts 's paper. The system of cadets 

 he describes provides for the taking in and training of youths 

 between the ages of 15 and 16 at the secondary schools in 

 the colony. They then proceed to a botanical institution, 

 where they receive training varying in length from one to 

 two years. I would like to say, as an addition, that during 

 the last four years we have found this system to give exceed- ' 

 ingly good results. Of course we have been able to take 

 only a limited number of boys over a relatively wide range 

 of choice, but at the same time our success has been quite 



