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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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LILICO.885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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been submitted to you and have been considered in connection with the recommenda- tions contained in the report of the London Departmental Committee, a copy of which accompanied your despatch under reference.

5. There are many valuable suggestions made by the Select Committee of the Combined Court, and as soon as a decision is arrived at with regard to the amount of the scholarship, I feel sure that the Council will advise the adoption of the report in its other points, and that the Court will readily resolve that the necessary steps shall be taken to give effect thereto.

I have, &c.,

CAVENDISH BOYLE.

Enclosure in No. 7.

COMBINED COURT. SPECIAL SESSION, 1900.

Final Report of the Committee appointed to enquire into the Education afforded at Queen's College.

To His Excellency Sir Walter Joseph Sendall, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of British Guiana, Vice-Admiral and Ordinary of same, &c., &c., &c.

The Select Committee of the Combined Court appointed to enquire into the education afforded by the Queen's College of British Guiana and to report as to the advisability of changing the standard of the same, begs to submit the following report:

The Committee has met on many occasions and has examined the following wit- nesses:-Professor Harrison, Government Analyst; Mr. J. A. Potbury, Principal of Queen's College; the Reverend Father Barraud, Head Master of the Catholic Grammar School; Mr. A. A. Thorne, Head Master of the Middle School; and Mr. W. Blair,. Inspector of Schools.

The Committee has also obtained valuable information from the Secretaries of the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations Board, and of the Joint Board, from the Head Masters of Queen's College (British Guiana), of Harrison College and the Combermere School (Barbados), and of the Queen's Royal College (Trinidad), and from the Governing Bodies of many well known industrial and technical colleges in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America.

Minutes of the meetings of the Committee, including short notes of the oral evidence obtained, are annexed to this Report. All correspondence of importance which has passed between the Committee and the persons above referred to, and the prospectuses received from Industrial and Technical Colleges, are also forwarded.

The Committee having considered the several matters referred to it for report, and the evidence and information above mentioned, and also the following despatches from the Secretary of State for the Colonies which were submitted for the information of the Committee, namely, one relating to practical agricultural instruction, dated. 4th October, 1899, another dated the 17th January, 1900, and a third dated 12th March, 1900, begs to submit the following recommendations.

The Committee thinks that the curriculum now adopted at the Queen's College, if provision is made for the teaching of science, is suitable to the circumstances of the Colony.

It is, however, hoped that if the recommendations hereinafter made as to the scholarship examination are carried out a higher standard may be attained than seems at present to exist in the College

To make better provision for the teaching of Science, the Committee is of opinion that a Science Master should be appointed in the place of Mr. Gray, who has recently resigned. If this is done and the work of the College is judiciously apportioned be- tween the several masters, the Committee thinks that the addition made to the College curriculum will cause very little (if any) additional annual expenditure.

Such a master could, it is believed, be obtained for a salary of about £250 a year, and instruc tion in botany and chemistry could be given at the Botanic Gardens and in the Govern- ment Laboratory. In connection with this recommendation we would call attention to paragraphs 22-25 of the report of the Government Analytical Chemist for the year 1890-91. In them Mr. Harrison points out the causes which at present prevent boys obtaining any satisfactory training in science, and suggests that botany and physical

science should be taught at Queen's College, the study of those subjects preceding that of chemistry, in which instruction should subsequently be given. He also recom- mends that small scholarships, in value from £25 to £50 a year, tenable for three years, should be given after examination to deserving students who desire to continue their studies in science in this Colony with a view to using their knowledge for practical purposes.

As already stated, the Committee strongly supports the giving of scientific instruc- tion at Queen's College, and thinks the suggestions. made might be used as a guide in the matter. To supply one scholarship a year, tenable for three years, the Mitchell scholarship now open to boys might be utilised, the regulations as to that scholarship being revised and the amount of the scholarship increased. £5 of the necessary in- -crease could be obtained from the Mitchell funds, as the tenure of the scholarship being reduced from four years to three, only three scholarships would be held by boys at the same time, instead of four as hitherto, It may be hoped that if one scholarship of this kind is established by the Government, other scholarships of a similar kind will in time be founded by private individuals interested in the prosperity of the Colony.

In the event of any of the present Masters of Queen's College, other than the Head Master or Principal, vacating his office, the Committee recommends that the terms and conditions on which his successor is to be appointed should receive careful consideration, so as to provide without additional expense for any additional claims on the teaching staff of the College.

After careful consideration, the Committee recommends that the Guiana Scholar- ship should not be abolished, believing that its existence stimulates higher education and is beneficial to the Colony. The Committee considers, however, that certain modifications in the examination for and the tenure and conditions of the scholarship and a small reduction in the expenditure connected therewith should be made.

As the standard of attainment to be required of those who compete for the scholarship, the Committee thinks that for the present the Cambridge Local Examina- tion for seniors may properly be retained as the test of candidates' proficiency, but that the scholarship should not be awarded to any person who has not attained the standard of First Class Honours in that examination with special marks of distinction in some one or more of the following subjects, namely, classics, mathematics, science, and modern languages. Girls who desire to compete for the scholarship should be re- quired to take up the subjects of the Local Examination (Seniors) taken up by boys, the Syndicate being requested to inform the Government of the position which any girls hold in the examination relatively to any boys competing at the same time.

The course suggested in the preceding paragraph seems the best to adopt at the present time, but it will probably be found advantageous hereafter to make arrange- ments for the examination being conducted by persons connected with some college at Oxford or Cambridge, as if it were an examination for an open scholarship attached to such college, and to award the scholarship to the competitor who having attained the standard required in the case of such an open scholarship is first in order of merit among the candidates.

The successful candidate need not, however, be required to enter that college, even if he decided to pursue his studies at the University to which such college belonged.

Provision being made for science teaching at Queen's College, and science being specified as one of the several subjects distinction in one or more of which is required as a qualification for the scholarship, the scholarship regulations should expressly pro- vide for its being tenable at any Science College recognised by the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, or at any Agricultural College approved of by the Governor-in-Council.

The following reductions of the scholarship may, it is thought, properly be made:-

i. The scholarship be in all cases tenable for four years only;

ii. No additional sum be given for outfit or passage money; and

iii. The value of the scholarship might be reduced to £175 a year, but should not exceed £200.

Having regard to the circumstances and condition in life of the candidates for the Guiana Scholarship, and comparing them with those of candidates for the Barbados Scholarship, the regulations as to which are similar to those above suggested, there is no reason for thinking that the benefit which the community derives from the exist- ence of the scholarship will be diminished by adopting these suggestions; indeed, not improbably, their adoption may stimulate scholars to the exertion needed to enable

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