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 years ago, extended to Christchurch, and is now a fixed institution there, and it is now being started in Wellington.

It would be well if some such admirable custom could be inaugurated in connection with our splendid Sydney University.

This is not the only evidence of the practical good sense and energy which the educational bodies in New Zealand bring to bear on their work.

Last year the Otago University Council, recognizing the need of practical instruction in many departments of industry outside the academic walls as well as inside, tried the experiment of sending Professor Black to the mining centres to lecture to the miners, and the result was a pronounced success. The subject is of such practical importance to communities such as ours, in a young country where minerals are of such frequent occurrence, that I make no apology for transcribing copiously from Professor Black's report.

The professor first of all went to the mining centres on the West Coast, where there are extensive gold-fields. There he says:

"I delivered forty-four lectures at fifteen different places, and established testing classes at nine centres. The attendance at the classes was very satisfactory, many miners in several districts taking a holiday during my visit, so as to avail themselves more fully of the testing classes.

"At Boatman's, near Reefton, I was joined by