Under II., however, the committee have something to say. They consider that the hours of study are by no means excessive, but they recommend that the midday interval for dinner, etc., be increased from fifty minutes to an hour and a quarter at least in summer, as it is injurious to proceed to study so soon after a full meal. They consider that the brains of the cadets are overtaxed more by the number of subjects than by the length of hours, and recommend the abolition of the following subjects of examination: Grammar, literature, history, Scripture history, physical geography, physics, and the introduction of Latin. A very drastic measure, and, with the exception of the introduction of Latin, too utilitarian, perhaps, in its tendency as compared with accepted ideas in schools of that period. A boy on joining the _Britannia_ after a year or so of special study under a "crammer" to enable him to pass the entry examination, certainly could not be said to have even approximately completed his education in general subjects. [Illustration: MR. A. C. JOHNSON, NAVAL INSTRUCTOR. _Photo: Smale & Son, Dartmouth._] However, the committee had a still more important recommendation in connection with examinations, for they held that the competitive examination on entry was "hurtful to the boys and injurious to the Service," and urged the substitution of a qualifying examination forthwith. Here they probably had the whole Service with them; for, as has been pointed out, there could be no valid reason for the introduction of competition in 1869, no one could seriously maintain that the most suitable boys would be thereby obtained for the Service, and only one witness has much to say for it, having been partly instrumental in introducing it. Before going to Dartmouth the committee visited the Royal Naval School at New Cross, the Greenwich Hospital School, and Eton College, and they found the physique of the cadets rather superior, age for age, to that of the boys in these schools. The head of the Naval Medical Department had evidently been making strong representations about the _Britannia_, and his evidence is rather that of a faddist who is determined that nothing can be right about the ship or the place. Certain figures on which he had partially based his objections were found to be erroneous, and this was pointed out to him, but he stuck manfully to his guns notwithstanding. The committee found that the cadets excel in manly sports, and more than hold their own in cricket against school elevens of older boys. Constant reference is made to the desirability of having a college on shore, and most of the witnesses are in favour of it, while a few, rather of the "old sea-dog" type, advocate sending boys straight to sea without any previous training. The recommendation of the committee is that the cadets spend three years in the college, broken by two trips in a sea-going training ship.