The first of the College Conferences, held last night in Sever 11 and addressed by Mr. Cummings of the Political Economy Department, proved very interesting and instructive to the few who were present. The speaker chose to put what he had to say about his subject, University Entension, in the form of a talk rather than a formal lecture and this rather increased the interest in his subject. The men present availed themselves of the opportunity of asking questions and a good deal of valuable information was gained in this way.

Mr. Cummings spoke first of the popular misunderstanding of the difference between University Extension and University Settlement. In the latter movement, University men live in the localities where they wish to carry on their work while in the former, men come from the Universities to their fields of labor only at certain times. Toynbee Hall in London is possibly the most notable example of University Settlement.

The prime object of University Extension is to bring the university to the people where they cannot come to the university. This is not a matter of pure philanthropy. The work in England is not done for nothing. When a town wishes to have lectures on any subject in Science or Literature, it sends to the University for a lecturer. The lecturer, either a Professor or a Fellow of the university, agree to give lectures, never less than six for about $225, the lectures coming at stated intervals and being of certain length. The money is then raised by the people and payed in advance. After the lectures, time is given for questions from the audience and then a class is formed for further study. Papers are prepared in the intervals between the lectures and submitted to the lecturer who corrects and returns them and at the end of the year, in April, regular examinations are held, made out by the University, not by the lecturer himself. If a man takes three years of this work and passes satisfactory examinations he may skip the first year of the regular university course. This lends a dignity to the movement which it does not have, as yet, in this country. The movement is more intimately connected with the University in England than here. The subjects discussed are gone into much more thoroughly and deeper subjects are undertaken.

In England the University Extension movement is a very large association. In large places there are central stations with numerous smaller outposts in different sections, each with its own ground to cover, all in communication with the principal office. The aim, also, of the movement is as broad as its present scope. It is the ultimate purpose of the men now working, to form small colleges where now they have only small classes. We, in this country, limit our efforts to very small classes. We have not gone beyond the experimental stage. In England there are about 45,000 people in attendance on the classes of the Association.

Mr. Cummings ended his talk with a description of Toynbee Hall, in London, where he spent some time himself, studying the condition of the society in the famous Whitechapel neighborhood. This Hall is a sort of club totally free from the church in every way. It is not distinctively a portion of the Extension movement, but is intimately connected with it in many ways.