Turning to the schools themselves.  The divergence is so considerable, that any remarks I make can have but a very general application.  At the best, the social tone is better than at your middle-class schools; at the worst—­I am still only speaking of grammar schools and denominational colleges, the highest class of secondary schools—­it is no worse; while the moral tone never falls to so low a level, and in some cases almost rises to that of second-rate public schools at home.  The Church of England grammar schools are naturally the best in social tone, the boys being drawn from a better class of parents; and I am by no means sure that the morals and manners of boys do not, to a certain extent, go together.  In the special sense of the word ‘morality,’ the best colonial schools can, I think, challenge comparison with your, public ones; but the regard for truth needs strengthening.  On the other hand, theft is almost unknown.  The same master from whose reports I quoted above, tells me that he finds colonial boys quite as tractable and amenable to discipline as English, when the authority over them is paramount; but in most schools this is far from being the case, the fault often, no doubt, lying with the master’s want of tact.  I still have a lively remembrance of the difficulty I had in keeping discipline on an occasion when I helped to examine a well-known college; but then, even at the best English public schools, the upper forms have a disposition to ‘try it on’ when a new hand is set over them, as my own reminiscences tell me.

In the Victorian Schools, and in secondary, as in higher education, Victoria offers infinitely superior advantages to those of the other colonies combined.  A feeling of esprit de corps exists; not so strong, perhaps, as in English public schools, but very strong considering the number of day-boys.  In the other colonies it does not take root at all firmly, or else degenerates into party spirit—­a tendency which it also shows in Victoria, where it is moulded into better form by the masters.  In most schools the prefect system has been established, of course with large modifications.  It has difficulties to struggle against in the democratic spirit of the country, and in the early age at which the majority of boys leave school; but in its working shape it seems to do good.  This is especially the case at one or two Victorian colleges, where the masters have established a mutual feeling of trust between themselves and the boys; but at too many the natural opposition remains.  The masters get too easily disgusted at what they consider the rough manners and ways of the boys, and are contented to leave them to their own devices, so long as they get through their work and obey the rules.  Consequently the boys become rougher and less amenable.  Another difficulty in the path of good discipline and tone throughout the schools is the too advanced age at which boys come there.