The result of the establishment of our own School of Mines (Plate V.) has been to raise the standard of the mine officer, whether manager, assayer, engineer, or “underground boss,” and our graduates have small difficulty in obtaining positions both in the states of the Commonwealth and in South Africa. The building alone cost nearly £40,000, of which £15,000 was donated by the Hon. George Brookman, a successful mining man. The mining and metallurgical courses extend over a period of four years. There are also facilities for students to gain higher qualifications, viz., the Fellowship in Mining, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering. The School works in conjunction with the Adelaide University, each institution teaching the subjects for which it is specially qualified. But returning to the formation of the Company, care should be taken in appointing Directors that at least one member of the Board is selected on account of his special technical knowledge of mining, and others for their special business capacity. The ornamental men with high-sounding names should not be required in legitimate ventures. Also, it is most important that the business Manager or Secretary should be a thoroughly qualified man, who by experience has learned what are the requirements of a mine doing a certain amount of work, so that a proper check may be kept on the expenses. The more Companies such a Secretary has in hand the better, as one qualified man can supervise a large staff of clerks, who would themselves be qualifying for similar work, and gaining a useful and varied experience of mining business. An office of this description having charge of a large number of mines is, in its way, a technical school, and lads trained therein would be in demand as mine pursers, a very responsible and necessary officer in a big mine. [Illustration: PLATE V.--SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF MINES AND INDUSTRIES _To face p. 118_]