no matter what were his abilities, or his application, lost five clear years of life, before he entered on his profession, thanks to the hopeless idiotcy of the system through which we were all put. I have taken comparatively little interest in English educational questions for some years back, but, from 1861, when I got the then Government to appoint the first Commission to enquire into our Public Schools till within a year or two of my leaving home, I took a very active part in their discussion, in and out of Parliament. During that time there was a great deal of improvement; but still the old follies stood back to back, and sold their lives dearly.

Here, however, I find little in our system to criticize. It is filled with the modern spirit, and, whenever a change is wanted, and is likely to be acceptable to those concerned, a scratch of the pen does more than years of weary iteration and reiteration of common sense can do to break through, in the old country, the cake of custom, let alone to overpower the resistance of the craftsmen of Ephesus.

And now, gentlemen, I think I have said to you, and, through you, to the youth of Southern India, all that I had it in my mind to say. My days in this country are numbered, but I shall continue to watch with the greatest interest the future of the Madras University. It has done good service up to this time, but there has perhaps not been much in its work, very unlike the work of its sister Universities at Calcutta and Bombay. It has been mainly an institution for the testing by West Aryans of the intellectual powers and educational progress of Southern Brahmins, that is, of persons of pure or mixed East Aryan blood.

All this is highly commendable, and useful. No one has a greater respect than I have for our Brahmins. Of them that may be truly said, which was said so well of Pericles:

"He waved the sceptre o'er his kind

By Nature's first great title-mind."

They must always occupy a most important place in a society, presided over by the Aryans of the West, because their place is indicated by their possession of a large share of those intellectual powers, in virtue of which the West Aryan himself holds paramount sway.

But to have a University merely to do what, in these Railway days, Bombay could do almost as well, would be a rather humble ambition. What must ever differentiate this University from all other Universities is, that it is placed in the midst of a huge Dravidian population.

We can make a pretty good guess as to what the East Aryan can do, when he has had "all the chances." We can hardly make a guess as to what the Dravidian may do. Very likely he will never be able to do work as good as that of the East Aryan, but it is almost certain that the best he does will be different in kind.

THIRTIETH CONVOCATION.

(BY RAJAH SIR T. MADAVA ROW, K.C.S.I.)

Gentlemen,-His Excellency the Chancellor having asked me to deliver the usual address to you on this occasion, I obey as a matter of duty and deference. I feel all the more gratified because the duty has been confided to me by no less a personage than the Governor of the Presidency, whom we have all so cordially welcomed, and who has already inspired all classes of the people with the confidence that his rule will be just, gener ous, and beneficent to the utmost of his power and opportunities. As an old friend of the people of Madras, it is a peculiar pleasure to me to stand in this position. I will not affect any extraordinary diffidence in the performance of the duty with which I am charged, for I am much your senior in years, and, therefore, in experience.

Gentlemen, I warmly congratulate you on the Academic honours you have won,-won after long and anxious toil, not unfrequently amid unknown difficulties, pressure, and privations. The University to which you belong will watch your future with affectionate interest. May your careers be long, happy and honourable.

ing.

Let me warn you that the world you are about to enter is by no means as smooth and beautiful as the pencil A timely warn- of youth and hope may have painted it to your imagination. In reality, it is full of divergences, difficulties, disappointments and dangers. After your entrance into it, it will not be long before you begin to realise the full meaning of what is called "the Battle of Life." You will find a ceaseless strife going on everywhere in pursuit of food, fortune or fame. The persons engaged are innumerable, the arms employed are of infinite diversity. You will have to make way amid dust and darkness; you will have to wade through knowledge and ignorance of all degrees; through prejudices and passions and errors and even vices difficult of enumeration. False lights will often misguide you; powerful temptations will lure you; unexpected obstacles will stop you; new problems

will perplex you. Envy, jealousy, pride and causeless antipathies will assail you. But it is hoped that the knowledge and virtue which have been imparted to you heretofore, and which you will strengthen hereafter by self-education, will conduct you safely and successfully through the world before you. Gentlemen, your education is not finished. It would be a

Your education is not finished.

great error on your part to suppose that as you have got your degrees your education is finished. Your general education has come to an end; but self-education must now begin and go on through all life. Clearly understand what you have gained so far, and do not over-estimate the advantages you have acquired. You have been taught certain large facts; in other words, you have been put in possession of a certain amount of knowledge; you have been taught how to learn, so as to enable you to increase your knowledge. Your reasoning or judging powers have been developed to a certain extent. Your mind has been trained or disciplined so as to be a useful instrument in the future. You have been provided with moral principles, by observance of which your conduct in life may be useful and perfectly honourable. In a short time you will find out for yourselves that your gains heretofore are insufficient as to quantity and imperfect as to quality. If you do not realise this, you will come to a standstill. Your stock of knowledge must be greatly increased. The faculties of your mind must be further strengthened and improved by well-directed exercise. All this will require labour and application. But these should not be grudged if you are ambitious of successful and honourable careers.

Value time and spend it well.

A great deal has to be done in life and life is short. The way in which time is spent makes a great difference in the merits and success of men. Exercise, rest and recreation are necessary to health of mind and body. You will be quite right to devote time for these purposes. You will be wrong not to do so. Do not waste your time in excessive sleep, in idleness, in frivolities, in aimless or useless conversation. Do not divert too much time to objects which are not relevant to the cardinal aims of your life. Consider well before you devote any considerable share of your time to the study of ancient or foreign languages of no great practical use to you. Your studies ought to have a useful bearing on your plan of life. At least they should not diverge far from the same. If you are to be a Tahsildar, do not divert too much of your time to Chemistry. If you are going to be a Vakil in Court, do not dissipate your time on Spherical

Trigonometry or Conic Sections. You will have to do more with the sections of Codes than of Cones! If you are to take up the medical profession, do not bestow too much of your time on Astronomy. Remember that much waste of time is entailed by frequent changes in your plan of life. Unless you have affluence and leisure, do not lay out too much of your time on mere ornamental accomplishments or in the reading of novels or other works of fiction. When you give your time, give it so as to obtain a fair return of pleasure or profit for yourself or for the community. Do not waste time in pursuits for which you have no natural aptitude. Do not waste time in undertakings which are impossible of accomplishment,or nearly so. I hardly like natives of India lavishly devoting time to excel in the composition of English or other foreign poetry. Considering that ideas are more important than words, do not spend too much time in the cultivation of mere literary graces. Do not squander time or brain-power in barren controversies or speculations, such as too many Pundits are fond of. If you want to acquire knowledge, acquire it as it is. Do not needlessly trouble yourself about its long past history. The lessons or deductions of history are far more worth time and study than the long dry details of historical events. A few select newspapers, local and general, you must, by all means, read regularly, in order to know current history. But avoid needless multiplicity and avoid the rubbish which is too often produced by impoverished incompetence.

Know something of everything and everything of something.

This is an important principle. Get a general idea of all fields of knowledge. But you must study closely and specially the particular field in which you are most interested. Plenty of books and advice are available for this purpose. Beware of a loose or superficial knowledge of subjects connected with your professional work. I am far from inculcating a strictly utilitarian principle in the choice of the fields of knowledge for your cultivation. All I urge is that you should take a rough survey of those fields, and select such as would yield you adequate pleasure or profit. Some fields may have to be rejected, because you lack the requisite aptitude; others, because you have not the requisite means or leisure; others again, because you have no opportunities to practically use the particular kind of knowledge. Be sure, gentlemen, no one will rejoice more than myself to see multitudes of graduates throughout India taking up multitudes of fields of knowledge and cultivating them with diligence, enthusiasm, and success. You have only to

remember that intellectual concentration is more fruitful than intellectual dissipation. I strongly deprecate what may be called intellectual vagrancy.

Aims of life.

As you are on the threshold of the world, it is important that you should have a clear idea of the principal objects you are to achieve or try to achieve. First, you are to secure for yourself material and moral happiness; secondly, you are to secure the same for all others to the utmost of your power. The means to be employed for these ends may be summarised in two words,-Knowledge and Virtue. These you have acquired to a certain extent as certified by your degrees. Increase them by diligent and well-directed self-education. Promote them among the people to the utmost of your ability. Descending from these generalities, I might expatiate for days on details touching the various relations of life. But time being limited, I will lay before you a few specific hints roughly and rapidly. Do not expect anything new, learned or brilliant in these hints, or even so much as natural or logical order. I shall be satisfied if you, gentlemen, find in some of them practical truths of any little service to you in the careers before you. I need not tell you, gentlemen, that the invaluable blessing of health is at the foundation of all happiness. Thoroughly learn the conditions on which health depends, and resolutely practise those virtues which preserve it. Promote public health and sanitation by private instruction, by advice and by example. A great deal might be quietly done in this direction with the result of more health and less disease,more happiness and less misery. Any exhortation on the subject of health may seem unnecessary. But we often come across instances in which the inestimable blessing of health is sacrificed in the too eager pursuit of inadequate objects. Knowledge regarding health should be acquired early in youth, rather than when health has been lost or begins to decline. Do not trust your health to ignorant quacks. The longer and the more happily you live, the better will you fulfil the objects of the education imparted to you.

Health.

Profession.

A healthy young man will soon find material wants pressing for satisfaction. He will have to select some profession or business in view to his livelihood. This necessity is early felt in India, and must not be long put off. The question is "how should you earn at least the minimum required for your maintenance." This should engage your earnest attention, because you will not find it satisfactory or honourable to live long on the industry of others.

Do not take