412 A Suggested Type of Agricultural School, [aug., 



where these boys will be given a suitable general 

 education, in which the manual side will be fully developed, 

 and theoretical and practical instruction in agriculture and 

 its processes in order to make them more efficient labourers. 

 We have come to the conclusion that there is at present 

 no general demand for such schools, and that there is no 

 place in the system of rural education for schools of this 

 exact type being carried on continuously throughout the 

 week." 



Two main considerations influenced the Conference in 

 coming to this conclusion. In the first place, the Report 

 says, there appears to be a consensus of opinion among prac- 

 tical agriculturists that boys of this class who intend to live 

 upon the land should get on to the land and into practical 

 work on the land as soon as possible after leaving an 

 Elementary School. In the second place, schools of the type 

 contemplated in the reference would usually have to be 

 boarding schools, to which the parents of boys of the labour- 

 ing classes could only afford to contribute very low, if any, 

 fees. Moreover, parents would have to forego the wages 

 which their sons might otherwise earn. 



As regards boys who intend to become farmers or small 

 occupiers, the Conference are of opinion that different con- 

 siderations attach, and that for them something beyond the 

 ordinary Elementary School is required. In districts where 

 Secondary Schools giving specialised rural instruction 

 exist, and the fees and boarding charges are low enough 

 to admit of the attendance of the sons of small farmers, the 

 Conference consider that no further facilities for rural educa- 

 tion for that class of boy up to the age of i6 can reasonably 

 be required. 



But, the Report points out, however much encourage- 

 ment is given to the development of rural Secondary Schools, 

 and to the improvement of rural instruction in the ordinary 

 rural Elementary Schools, there is still room in certain dis- 

 tricts for the trial bv way of experiment of one or other of 

 two new types of school. 



One of the types, adapted to the instruction of future 

 farmers, which the Conference suggest, would be akin to 

 the present "Higher Elementary School" specialised in an 

 agricultural direction. This type of school, which has not 



