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 (Superintendent 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 
