41 
as working a young man continuously 12 hours a day, the result of 
which is tersely expressed in an old university saying—four hours 
a day study are four hours, and four more are eight, and four more 
are four. Four hours a day are as much as ever a child under 12 
can give to study with advantage. And this the more, because I 
am speaking now of schools intended for the operative classes alone, 
where if the children learn to read, write, and spell well, with the 
rudiments of geography, and a knowledge of arithmetic up to com¬ 
pound division, they take with them all that they are ever likely to 
retain in after life. The large amount of spare time which thus 
becomes disposable should bo given to out-door industrial employ¬ 
ment. It is all right and proper to give boys and girls an hour or 
more of play in a day, but it is quite a mistake to suppose that 
children like only what may be called purposeless play. A boy likes 
nothing so well as a couple of hours or more of driving cattle, herd¬ 
ing cows, tending sheep, cutting wood ; he likes the sense of dignity 
which his employment gives him, and looks on it as a promotion. 
Girls like tending rabbits or feeding poultry quite as well as they do 
a mere game at romps. Now when industrial employment is given, 
as it often nominally is, it is almost always indoors. The children, 
wearied with lessons, are condemned to be wearied still more with 
tailoring, cobbling, and stitching, and the result is, that the money 
value of their work is next to nothing. A few sharp boys occa¬ 
sionally, but rarely, pick up a little artizan knowledge, and thereby 
go to swell the overgrown city populations, which only make the 
Australian colonies, like tadpoles, all head, while the farmers are 
crying out for labour and cannot get it. I beg, therefore, to suggest 
that wherever new industrial establishments, reformatory schools, 
and the like shall be henceforward established, it shall be made a 
sine qud non to have in contiguity to them a tract of land suffi¬ 
ciently large to answer not only as a model farm, but to neutralize a 
very large proportion of the costs of the establishment. The manner 
in which the children can be employed may be as follows :—After 
three hours’ schooling, from 8 to 11, they can have an hour’s play, 
and then dino. After dinner they can have an hour’s indoor 
employment or amusement, and then should work from two to three 
hours in the field. The boys arc perfectly able to dig the drains for 
thorough drainage. There should be a large dairy attached, for milk 
forms a chief part of the consumption, and while the boys can milk 
the cows the girls should make the butter and cheese. Both boys 
and girls should work in the gardens, which should be large enough 
to supply abundance of vegetables. Such a system would supply the 
establishment with milk, butter, cheese, and vegetables, and where 
there is an ample supply of these a great deal of the meat can be 
dispensed with ; at least ninth-tenths of the people of Europe never 
touch meat, and are just as healthy as the Australians. In conclu¬ 
sion, I come to the subject of the applicability of such a plan to the 
introduction of new agricultural industries. There are very many 
