14.2 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Avea., 1898. 
cent. of their graduates became farmers—that was, that out of every 100 who 
passed through the whole collegiate course seventy-six did not take to farming. 
He hoped that the results in Queensland would be more satisfactory. They 
hoped to instil into the students such a love of the practical work of the farm 
that in after life quite half of them would take up agriculture as a profession ; 
but, whether they took up agriculture or not, he felt sure that the knowledge 
they would gain at the College would be no burden to carry. He had received 
a petition wherein the students complained of certain arrangements of work. 
That petition ought to have been sent to the Principal, and if he, after consulta- 
tion with the masters, was unable either to redress their grievances or to show 
that there were, in his eyes, insuperable objections to any alteration of the 
existing system, they should then, and then only, have addressed themselves 
to the Minister. However, every effort would be made to put things 
on @ more satisfactory footing. He impressed upon the students 
the fact that the training they were to receive would be of a practical 
nature. At the end of the term he would award a prize for the best 
diary. As indicating the lines on which the diary might be written, he 
remarked that in all operations carried on Mr. Mahon would fully explain what 
was being done. If Mr. Mahon had fat cattle to sell, it would be explained 
why ‘one beast was selected-in preference to another. They would be told what 
prices were obtained for them. The dairy cattle would be tested for tubercu- 
losis with the tuberculin test; they would, therefore, see this, and if any of 
the cattle should unfortunately show reaction they would learn what reaction 
meant. A veterinary surgeon would be sent up to make a post-mortem, with 
the students as spectators. A few sheep would be added to the stock in order 
that they might know where to look for the heaviest and best wool. The diary 
he asked them to keep would relate to such things as he had mentioned, as 
well as their general work on the farm. Concluding, Mr. Chataway mentioned 
that he would like all of them who had been accustomed to attend church to 
continue to do so; that he would obtain, as soon as he could, such a conveyance 
as would take them to their place of worship, so that no one could say they 
were kept from their religious exercises through difficulty in reaching the place 
where services were held. 
At an earlier period of the day Mr. Manon also addressed the students. 
At the outset he mentioned the changes made in the management since the 
vacation, consequent upon the resignation of Professor Shelton (for whom he 
had much esteem), and the appointment of himself. He further expressed the 
pleasure it gave him to see so many healthy and manly-looking young men 
around him. He hoped they were all fully prepared and anxious to 
fulfil their part as farmers in building up agriculture in Queens- 
land—a science every country depended on, and without which no 
country could prosper. Their parents had placed them at the College 
to enable them to receive a practical and scientific training in all 
branches of agriculture, so that they might be in a position to earn 
an independent living as farmers, than which, to his mind, there was no 
higher calling. So far as the masters of the College were concerned, they 
would do their best to fulfil their part, and it would be for the students to 
reciprocate their efforts, and justify the trust that had been placed in them by 
their parents and guardians. "It was his great ambition while in charge of the 
College to so educate them that no single one of them could be pointed out as 
a discredit in conduct or education to the institution, to the masters who had 
devoted time, patience, and learning to their education, or to himself as 
Principal. He wanted to impress upon them that a farmer’s life was not 
necessarily, or indeed would not be, the uninteresting and almost slavish life 
that it was often held up to be by those who knew least about it. At the 
same time, he did not want them to think that a farmer’s life, or a student’s 
life there, was an idle one. They would have their hours of work and hours 
of play ; but during the former time they would have to put forth their best 
endeayours. In conclusion, he appealed to their honour, to their good sense, 
