(TO THE EDITOR OF Tits "SrEareroa.") Sin,—Your correspondent, Mr. Strachey,
says, "If it is really true that public schools and monitors are things inseparable, the future of Rugby, Winchester, and Harrow should be contemplated with the gravest concern by their admirers." I take it for granted that the omission of the name of Eton is intentional, at any rate, the facts warrant its omission. The only relic of a monitorial system is among the boys on the Foundation, and even here it is gradually, but certainly dying out. But the word " monitor " is unknown, and the duties and privileges of the Sixth Form, who, to a certain extent, occupy the place of moni- tors, are singularly undefined. They depend on a shifting, un- stable tradition, and every fresh instance of their abuse tends to diminish them. I remember well being called upon, as "captain of the school,"-to punish monitorially a boy, we will call him A, who had been guilty of gross bullying. His victim was not a, little boy, but one extremely unpopular, and he had been set upon by three or four others, of whom A was the ringleader. It de- volved on me to give him a public "licking," and never have I encountered a more disagreeable task, never have I felt so humiliated. He took it as a joke, and encased in a pea-jacket, smiled at the ill-directed blows which I, sup- ported by the majesty of law, directed at the most unguarded parts of his person. I brought the scene to a dose as speedily as possible ; he certainly was not hurt physically, and I doubt much whether his moral fibre had sustained a shock. I was gratified' when I met him years after, an officer in her Majesty's Service, to find that he had wholly forgotten the affair. I had not ; the painful recollections were indelible. It was a great mistake, but we acted from a strong sense of duty, and forced ourselves to do what we hated.
I venture to hope this scene is almost, if not quite impossible now. The Upper boys have influence and use it, but it is gener- ally of an indirect kind, and from the relations they maintain with their juniors they are pretty sure to hear of any bullying, and put it down promptly. In the different houses the practice may differ, but generally the captain and the influential boys of the house have an informal authority, and are in communication with the house-master, so that any case which they consider be- yond their province is reported to him. The threat of such a, report is generally enough to bring the offender to his senses.
No weapon is officially entrusted to any boy in the school. When I had to lick A, I was confined to the use of my fiat, which was considerably the worse for the dexterous interposition of his
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