Reformatory and Industrial Schools. 
223 
farming in Canada and elsewhere. I may say that the lads have taken a 
great interest in the instruction given. 
" I do not believe that elementary education suffers at all in such schools 
as ours on account of its combination with practical work. My experience is, 
that the boys employed on the farm (being well fed) can make as great 
progress in school as those who are not, if not more. The results we have 
obtained compare favourably with those of Board Schools. Considering the 
neglected condition of many of our boys when admitted, and the advance- 
ment they make (as half-timers) while in the home, I am convinced that 
practical work is a help rather than a hindrance to elementary education. 
" Angus Mackay, 
" Superintendent, 
" Farm School, Biahy, Woking Station, Surrey." 
The distinction between this and the preceding Industrial 
Schools has been stated above by Mr. Mackaj, and requires to 
be borne in mind. The land is light and the garden very 
productive. On the arable land a catch-crop of rye is grown 
after wheat and before turnips or cabbage. The distance of the 
school from a good market is the greatest drawback to a better 
financial result of the farming operations. Still, a boarding 
school in the neighbourhood is supplied with 15 lbs. of butter 
per week at \s. 6rf. per lb., the whole year through, and the 
occupiers of villas without much land attached, both in the 
immediate vicinity and at Weybridge, purchase hay at re- 
munerative prices. The Superintendent has not been suc- 
cessful in placing boys with English farmers, but a few obtain 
situations as under-gardeners and under-grooms. The Society 
has, however, a receiving home at Hamilton, Canada, whence 
the boys are sent by the Master of the Home, on terms 
which he arranges for them, to Canadian farmers as appren- 
tices for twelve months, after which the boys can generally 
make their own terms. These boys are so much in request 
that the Superintendent of the school generally has applica- 
tions for three times as many as he can send out. The education 
given here is of a much higher stamp than I found at any other 
school which I visited, with the single exception of the Boys' 
Farm Home at East Barnet ; and it is interesting to observe 
that at both these schools a beginning has been made to teach 
the principles of agriculture under the South Kensington rules. 
As the educational condition of the boys is certified annually 
by an Inspector of the Education Department, I am unable 
to give statistical details ; but I would add, from personal 
observation, that, considering the majority of the boys before 
their admission into this school were systematically in the habit 
of evading the Board Schools and their officers, the results 
which have been achieved appear very remarkable. 
