MIL HEBBARD said "The subject of my address is the certification of managers. I make no apology for having chosen this as my subject, because it is a matter of very considerable importance to the Institute, from the oldest member down to the youngest student. The Council of the Institute is also evidently of this opinion, because it has been given serious consideration, as you will see by a perusal of the Annual Report, and I would also like to remark that my -object in taking this subject for my address is the hope of provoking serious discussion on the question so that some finality may possibly be arrived at as to what is desirable, expedient and necessary. " At the Annual Dinner of the Institute, held in Sydney last year, the President, in course of his remarks, mentioned the question of the certification of mine managers as important not only to the mine owner and the Mines Department,_x000D_
but in a much more acute degree to the mining student, considered as an Associate member of this Institute. Almost every subsequent speaker touched on the matter, and the divergence of the views expressed, made quite evident the necessity of a thorough discussion of the question, particularly in the interests of mining students. One view very strongly held and very trenchantly expressed was that certificates should be granted to candidates on production of University degrees, diplomas of ;Schools of Mines, &c., without the necessity to sit for the examination prescribed by the Mines Department or the production of proof of practical experience. With the arguments adduced in support of this, I, at the time, disagreed, and this paper is intended as an elaboration of the views then expressed by myself. These remarks apply to the State of New South Wales particularly, though they have a general bearing on the attitude of the Mines Departments of other States also to this matter.