TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 635 
State has already constructed 4,730 miles of railway at a total cost (including 
rolling-stock) of slightly over 34,000,000/., which for the last financial year 
returned 32. 8s. 8d. per cent. interest; Parliament has approved of an addi- 
tional 1,406 miles on which work has not yet been begun; and there are 301 
miles in course of construction at present. Many of the men employed in the 
construction have their families with them; and provision is made for the 
education of their children by means of tent schools, which can be readily trans- 
ported from one camp to the next as the work progresses. 
3. The travelling-teacher system is designed to meet the educational needs of 
districts so sparsely populated, and with families so isolated, that at no one 
centre can a sufficient number of children be collected to warrant the establish- 
ment of a school. The system, which has proved a great success, was initiated 
in 1901, when one travelling teacher was appointed; there are at present 17, 
and from the beginning of 1915 the number will be increased to 20. This 
teacher must be a man of special qualifications, a knowledge of ‘ bushcraft’ 
being indispensable; but the Department supplies him with a buggy, horses, 
and camp equipment, as well as allowing him the services of a lad to tend the 
horses and otherwise assist. It is the duty of the travelling teacher to ascertain 
what scattered families with children requiring education are resident in -the 
district assigned to him, and to visit every such family at least four times a 
year. He stays as long as possible at each visit, teaches the children, revises 
the work set at the preceding visit, prescribes the new work to be attempted, 
and advises and helps the member of the family—usually an elder sister—on 
whom devolves the duty of instructing the children during his absence. A 
much-appreciated feature in connection with the travelling teacher is that he 
carries with him a stock of school library books for lending to children and 
parents, and of Departmental School Papers for distribution among his pupils, 
thus providing a supply of cheap and wholesome literature in the out-of-the-way 
places to which his duties take him. In the discharge of their duties during 
1913 the 17 travelling teachers covered a total distance of 60,438 miles, visited 
900 families, and instructed 1,884 children. 
4. Secondary education in Queensland has always been well provided for, and 
secondary education is free to all who pass the qualifying examination; there is 
also a liberal system of sustenance allowances for the children of parents of 
modest means. Scholarships to the University are also granted, and in addition 
to free tuition these scholarships carry sustenance allowances. 
5. Compulsory attendance carries with it the obligation to safeguard the 
health of the children who attend; and, accordingly, a scheme of medical and 
dental inspection—aiming at the practically useful rather than the scientifically 
exhaustive—has been evolved. The Department has two full-time and four part- 
time medical officers, one full-time ophthalmic inspector, and three full-time 
dental inspectors. In addition, the State at large liberally endows its hospitals, 
contributing two pounds for each pound locally subscribed, with the result that 
there are 90 well-equipped public hospitals; and at 28 of these the Department 
has arranged that, in return for a small annual payment, the hospital doctor 
shall attend to the children in his centre. 
6. Queensland upholds the Commonwealth scheme of defence and is giving 
the movement warm support; male teachers are being trained as cadet instruc- 
tors, and female teachers in charge of small schools are being given an appro- 
priate course of instruction, so that théy may train their elder male pupils and 
generally improve the physique of the children in their charge, irrespective of 
sex. 
7. Queensland has many empty spaces to be filled by a yeoman population; 
the Education Department recognises that parents will not go to places where 
their children cannot be educated, and that the Department must do its part in 
encouraging settlement by making education available in every possible way, so 
that the vision may be realised of a Queensland fully occupied by a contented 
and happy people, a Queensland forming a strong outpost of the Empire, con- 
tributing to her prosperity in times of prosperity and ready to answer her call 
in the hour of her need. 
