TO THB EDITOR. Sib, —May I ask you to publish the following extracts from the ' Daily Times' of February*6, 1884, which explain them selves.--! am, J etc., - F Livingston. Dunedin, April 24. . .- . . In 1869 the .then Superintendent of Otago appointed a commission to take the subject into consideration, with the Eev. Dr Stuart as chair man. By that time a committee of ladies had been constituted, Mrs Captain Oargill being the lady president, But Miss Dairy mplo was still the guiding spirit of the movement, and her letter developing the scope and design of the school appears attached to the report of the Commission, in which her labors are thus referred to:—" We desire to express our deepobligation to Miss Dairy mple and other membets of the Ladies' Committee tor their. well-timed and valuable communications. These have received our careful consideration, and it is satisfactory to us to be able to recommend that many of the proposals made should be.carried out." The nature of these proposals may be gleaned from the opening sentences of Miss Dalrymple's letter: "ft js urged that the education, of girls ought on alt essential points to be assimilated to that of boys, not necessarily in the acquirement of the same branohe3 of knowledge, but ,by a selection of such studies as would equally well train and exercise the and give their capabilities as fair a chance of development, whilst in their nature the studies should be such as would tend to give that grace and re finement of mental culture which it is pre eminently desirable should ever be-kept in view." Mr Hislop—then the head of the Education Department in Otago—writing to Miss Dal rymple, says: " Personally I feeLihankful for your communication and other papers, as they will greatly aid us in our labors." And offici ally, under'date November," 1869, he writes: " I am instructed to convey the thanks of the Commissioners to yourself and other ladies for the interest you have manifested and»tho ser- ■ vioes you rendered" in connection with the sub- ! jeot of a girls' high school for Otago." I

HARD TIMES IN THE UNITED STATES.
