November 26, 1«86.J 



SCIUJS^CU. 



497 



since 1878, three exhibitions to the universities 

 have been granted yearly, on the result of exam- 

 inations conducted by the professors in Sydney. 

 The holders of these scholarships have proceeded 

 to the Universities of Sydney, Melbourne, London, 

 Oxford, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, and in many 

 cases have distinguished themselves there, often 

 in scientific examinations. 



Tasmania. 



Little or no elementary science is taught in the 

 primary schools. A council of education takes 

 cognizance of all secondary schools, and conducts 

 examinations for scholarships and exhibitions, 

 and for the degree of A. A. Holders of this de- 

 gree can proceed to England to study for tlii'ee 

 years at government expense : 274 students have 

 availed themselves of this, and have taken med- 

 ical and legal degrees, and entered the church, 

 but none have studied and applied their science 

 in the colony. It is one of the duties of the an- 

 alytical chemist to the government, to deliver 

 free public scientific lectures in Hobart. The 

 government has under consideration a scheme for 

 introducing technical education into primary 

 schools. 



New Zealand. 



I have already referred to the speech of the 

 minister of education of this colony, delivered in 

 the house of representatives in 1885. In general 

 characteristics, the educational system here much 

 resembles those we have been considering. The 

 extent to which science is recognized in the pri- 

 mary schools will be seen from the following- 

 facts. With a population of about half a million, 

 there are nearly 1,000 primary schools, in which 

 almost 100,000 children received instruction in 

 1884 : 55 per cent of these learned geography ; 60 

 per cent, drawing ; 75 per cent were taught ' ob- 

 ject-lessons ; ' and 26 per cent received lessons in 

 elementary science. The course of instruction in 

 this intei'ested me much, as it is so obviously based 

 upon what has been so successfully worked in the 

 board schools of Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, 

 Nottingham, etc., and is being introduced in Lon- 

 don also. It is confined to pupils in and above 

 standard IV. ; the boys being taught elementary 

 physics, or agricultural chemistry, or botany, and 

 the girls domestic economy, based on such excel- 

 lent httle books as that of Mrs. Buckton. The 

 peripatetic system of teaching these subjects, so 

 well worked in our large cities, cannot, of course, 

 be carried out in New Zealand. The Maori native 

 schools are, on the whole, in a flourishing position, 

 and doing excellent work : 2,226 children are in 

 attendance, and a text-book, ' Health for the 

 Maori,' has been published in English and in the 

 e macular. 



In the secondary schools, academical traditions 

 are still very strong, and in the position of science 

 there is vei-y great room for improvement. Under 

 the guidance of the University of New Zealand, 

 however, the provincial colleges affiliated to it are 

 doing much to encourage the pursuit of science. 

 In Canterbury college, out of six professors, four 

 are scientific, and a similar proportion holds good 

 in the so-caUed University of Otago, excluding the 

 medical school. I believe a similar state of things 

 exists also in the Auckland college. The Univer- 

 sity of New Zealand recognizes the claims of 

 science to a greater extent, I think, than does any 

 colonial university. The pass for a bachelor of 

 science is as follows : mathematics, physics, chem- 

 istry, biology, and any two out of the five follow- 

 ing subjects, — Latin, Greek, English, modern 

 languages, mental science. A candidate can ma- 

 triculate and proceed to the B.Sc. degree without 

 any more classical knowledge than a trifling amount 

 of Latin, such as the proverbial schoolboy ought 

 to have at his fingers' ends. So anxious is the 

 senate of the university to maintain a high standard 

 for its degrees, that all the degree examination 

 questions are set, and all the answers thereto are 

 revised, by English examiners of either London, 

 Oxford, or Cambridge universities. It is my privi- 

 lege to be the agent of the university in England, 

 and I am now seeing through the press about 

 ninety examination papers for use in the colony 

 next autumn. Mr. Stout says in his speech, that, 

 " considering her population, New Zealand has as 

 many students receiving a university education as 

 any country in the world, and, relatively to her 

 population, more university-trained men than any 

 country in the world." 



So much for the scholastic instruction. In the 

 other great means of educating the people, mu- 

 seums, etc.. New Zealand is in advance of the 

 other Australasian colonies. The Canterbury 

 museum, whose curator. Dr. Von Haast, is execu- 

 tive commissioner at this exhibition, excels those 

 of Sydney and Melbourne ; and in arrangement 

 of exhibits for scientific purposes, the Otago 

 museum is said to be second to none in the southern 

 hemisphere. Those in Wellington and Auckland 

 have also a well-deserved reputation. 

 General conclusions. 



Finally, I beg to ofl'er a few general remarks 

 and conclusions, founded upon the details which 

 we have been considering. To those of us who 

 are familiar with the very limited extent to which 

 the teaching of science is carried out in the ele- 

 mentary schools of Great Britain, it w'ould appear 

 that its claims to a place in state-aided primary 

 education are much more recognized in the colonies 

 than in the mother-country ; and this not merely 



