Reformatory and Industrial Schools. 
227 
and thus to discharge their duties intelligently instead of mecha- 
nically. For purposes of instruction at a rural elementary 
school it would not be necessary to have so large an acreage of 
land as is attached to Reformatory Schools as a means of em- 
ployment of the inmates, nor would it be desirable to adopt the 
expensive system of spade-labour, except on a small acreage of 
garden-land. 
1 have always given little heed to mere theoretical statements 
put forward without reference to the facts or experience upon 
which they are based, and therefore I have devoted many pages 
of this Report to the actual record of facts and experiences with 
which I have been furnished by the authorities of Reformatory 
and Industrial Schools. Some persons may say that I have 
called too many witnesses ; but if I had discharged my duty in 
a less complete manner, others would have complained that the 
evidence brought forward was not sufficient to establish the case. 
I quite admit that the onus probandi lies with those who desire 
a change from the established order of things, and although I 
consider that I have brought forward more evidence than is 
sufficient to establish my view, I have thought it right to call 
one other witness to defend what some might still consider to 
be a weak point in my armour. 
It has occurred to me that the objection might be made that 
farmers in many districts would not agree to the adoption of the 
" half-time system " by employing " half-timers " for farm-work, 
either during half-days or upon alternate days, on account 
of the necessary break in the continuity of work which such a 
system would necessitate. I therefore have selected the fol- 
lowing extracts from a letter on the subject, which was addressed 
to Mr. Barwick Baker in 1872. The writer is the Rev. E. 
Lowbridge Baker, and he stated as follows : — 
" We made the following suggestion to the farmers, that if they would 
agree to employ no hoys under ten years of age, and none between the ages of 
10 and 14 except those who attended school, we would find suitable boys for 
their work ; they should state to the schoolmaster the work to be performed, 
when two would be chosen from a list of eligible boj's, each of whom should 
work on alternate days, and when not at work he would be at school. 
" The farmers could not see it at first, and raised several objections, more 
particularly the trouble of teaching two boys the work to be done instead of 
one. However, I suggested that they should give the scheme a trial, and if 
they did not like it, and it did not work well, that it must be given up. All 
the farmers in the parish agreed to make the experiment, and consequently 
our school was at once filled with children. I fully expected at first to hear 
complaints from the parents that they could not afford to send their children 
to school, but nothing of the sort — they were very much pleased with the 
regulation ; as they said, ' it gave all a chance ; ' they looked at it in the light 
of a compromise, getting schooling for their children, and at the same time 
earning a small amount of wages. 
" After the plan had been working some niue or ten months I asked 
Q 2 
