April 



1913] 



NATURE 



1 2 



as shown by the last preceding census. With the 

 present population this works out at 200 per annum. 

 If we take the length of the average course as four 

 years, when the scheme is in full working order there 

 should be 800 students at the University each year, for 

 whom the State would pay. 



At first it was intended that the exhibitions should 

 be awarded only to holders of the leaving certificate. 

 However, it was pointed out that in this way a 

 deserving class would be deprived of the benefits of 

 the measure. No exhibition could have been given 

 to the man who desired to enter the University several 

 years after he had left school ; nor could one be 

 gained by the lad who had been educated privately, 

 or at a school below the standard required for regis- 

 tration. To remedy this defect, it was provided that, 

 while the exhibitions were to be given each year on 

 the results of the written examination for the leaving 

 certificate, any person other than a candidate for the 

 certificate, who had been a resident in New South 

 Wales for three years, might compete at such ex- 

 aminations, and should be considered equally with the 

 holders of the leaving certificate in the allotment of 

 the exhibitions, except that the number given in any 

 year to these persons should not exceed 5 per cent, 

 of the total for that year. 



For this measure the Labour Government of New 

 South Wales is responsible. One of the planks in 

 the policy of that party is free education from the 

 school to the University ; and one of the principles 

 for which the party contends is equality of oppor- 

 tunity for the ablest pupils in the schools to advance 

 further with their studies when they have proved their 

 ability and industry. Free university education has 

 not been pressed, but equal opportunity has been 

 demanded, and this measure is meant to provide that 

 opportunity. 



The primary and secondary schools of New South 

 Wales are already free; but to make the secondary 

 schools free, and to provide also a large number of 

 exhibitions exempting from fees at the University, is 

 not sufficient to remove the obstacle in the way of 

 an able boy or girl whose parents have only the most 

 moderate means. For such cases additional assistance 

 is required, and for them suitable provision has been 

 made. Bursaries are to be granted to the best pupils 

 ol (he elementary schools, assisting them, when they 

 stand in need of such assistance, ■ in their passage 

 Ihiough the secondary school. On the successful 

 completion of the secondary-school course, University 

 butsaries are given by the State with a similar end 

 in view. 



'1 he measure has been criticised in various quarters. 

 Representatives of the professional classes spoke of 

 the cheapening of the professions and of the lowering 

 of the standard. But it was an easy task to answer 

 these objections. The exhibitions are to be granted 

 on the results of an examination in the regulations 

 for which it is expressly provided that the subjects 

 and standards shall be such as the University deter- 

 mines are necessary for matriculation. Also the Uni- 

 versity shares in the conduct of, and the responsibility 

 for, the examination. The difference which this 

 measure has made is that in New South Wales the 

 boy whose parents cannot afford the fairly large 

 expense of university education will not be cut off 

 from the chance of gaining its benefits, if he proves 

 himself to possess distinct ability and application. 



The only serious vital criticism of the measure was 

 that which pointed out that the increase of 10,000?. 

 in the endowment of the University would not cover 

 the ultimate loss it would suffer from the non-payment 

 of fees and enable it to meet the other charges im- 

 NO. 2266, VOL. qi] 



posed upon it by the Bill. The University has, how- 

 ever, no real cause to be anxious on this account ; it 

 possesses the confidence of the people, and it is re- 

 ceiving each year largely increased sums of money 

 on the Estimates. So far as this measure is con- 

 cerned, Mr. Carmichael, the Minister for Education, 

 to whom it is due, stated the situation in the Legis- 

 lative Assembly as follows : — 



" I have given my word on behalf of the Govern- 

 ment that before 1916, when the University will receive 

 the full flow of graduates, we shall increase the 

 statutory endowment to meet the demands. I propose, 

 if the Government has an opportunity — and, if not, I 

 hope our successors will recognise the obligation — to 

 raise the endowment in 1915 by another 10,000?. From 

 the present day on to 1915 the University is to the 

 good on this deal. I think we may fairly claim to 

 have shown a liberality to the University which I 

 hope our successors in office — if we do not remain 

 here — will follow up. After 1915 the endowment will 

 be increased to meet the requirements of the future." 



It is now two years since the change of Government 

 in New South Wales which for the first time gave 

 the power into the hands of the Labour Party. These 

 two years have been marked by great advances in the 

 cause of education from the lowest to the highest 

 level. To those who watch the evolution of demo- 

 cratic government in Australia it may be an interest- 

 ing fact that, where the democratic tendency is most 

 marked, the claims and advantages of the highest 

 education have their strongest advocates and fullest 

 recognition. New South Wales and Victoria have the 

 advantage over the other Australian States _ which 

 accompanies larger resources, a greater population, and 

 further development. They have been able more 

 thoroughly to undertake the work of school and 

 university education, and so far as this State is 

 concerned, it may be claimed that the leaders of the 

 democracy, to whatever party they belong, have 

 already abandoned the idea that the highest work 

 can be done without the highest educational prepara- 

 tion for it. H. S. Carslaw. 



RECENT WORK ON INVERTEBRATES. 



'/'HE Entomologists' Monthly Magazine for Decem- 

 *■ ber, 1912, contains two beautifully coloured plates 

 of Lepidoptera, illustrating new and rare species de- 

 scribed by Messrs. Hamilton and Herbert Druce and 

 Dr. T. A'. Chapman. 



In concluding, in the same issue, their notes on the 

 British representatives of the leaping beetles of the 

 genus Longitarsus, Messrs. Tomlin and Sharp direct 

 attention to the apparently instable state of evolution 

 of these beetles, some individuals of a species being 

 winged, while others are apterous. This condition 

 seems to point to the progressive disappearance of 

 the wings in the group ; and it is suggested that this 

 may be due to the development of the saltatorial 

 powers. Why it should be more advantageous to 

 jump than to fly is not, however, very apparent, 

 although it may be that the former mode of progres- 

 sion facilitates escape from enemies. A similar sug- 

 gestion, it may be remembered, has been made in the 

 case of the jumping Australian mice and rats, _ as 

 compared with ordinary mice and rats, the leaping 

 movement not improbably tending to baffle birds of 



prey. 



In the second part of Verh. Naturhist. Verems 

 der preuss. Rheinlande u. Westfalens for 191 1 (1912), 

 Dr. C. RSttgen completes his long account of the 

 beetles of Rheinland. In the same issue Dr. F. Haas 



