VOCATIONAL TRAINING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 259, 27 July 1920, Page 5

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

A GRATIFYING RECORD. The Dominion summary, covering tho operations of the Defence Department's educational and vocational training branch for the month- ended June 39, is to hand, and' tho figures recorded therein aro the highest yet roached since the Inception of tho vocational training scheme. The total number of soldiers shown on class rolls as undergoing instruction at the various military hospitals at which up-to-date workshops for training have been inaugurated throughout the Dominion, is 2020, made up as follows:—Auckland distrlot, 622; Wellington, district, 822; Canterbury district, 336; Otago distrlot, KO. The.above figures include patients attending for Instruction in moro classes than one, and therefore conßtitnte the gross total, the net total, or actual namper of soldiers receiving tuition in the Dominion under tho scheme being 1208. A alight falling-oil in numbers under instruction is perceptible In the Canterbury and Otago districts, while substantial increases are shown in the Auckland and Wellington dißtrlots, Trentham la,tho centro in the Wellington district at which the majority of soldiers in receipt of hospital treatment ate quartered, in consequence of which educational and vocational training workshops are established on a largo scale.

It 1b considered very gratifying to fee tho extent to which patients tnero are availing themselves of the facilities for vocational training offered. Their regularity of attendance (In a large measure voluntary) together with the keen enthusiasm for the instruction undertaken angurß well for the future, In conjunction with class work, tours of Instruction are arranged for tho students, These take the form of visits to various farmß and industrial concerns in the district. Through the kindness of the management of Messrs. E. Hannah and Co., Ltd., and the Goar Meat Co., these works were visited by students from the boot repairing and agricultural olasses respectively. Tho poultry farm ft the Hon. C. H. Izard, H.uO., Bituated at tho Upper Hutt, was also visited by students of the poultry-keeping class. Next to Trentham In Importance, from a vocational viewpoint, comes the Pukcora Sanatorium, at Walpuknrau. The work at this centre is not as well dovclopeil as at Trentham, due in a largo measure to the difficulty in securing labour and materials for tho ereotlon of tho necessary plant and bulldlngß with which the department, In common with tho conntry generally, has been faced. Bpd-rlddon patients at the institution are instructed In occupational subjects, e.tr., ombroidcry, raffia, basket, and net work. Instruction In carpentry li now aVftllahlo thronsrh tho completion of a workshop erected by the tied Cross Society. This workshop has been fully equipped and iplaccd' In charge of an effloicnt instructor. Adjoining, tho sanatorium is a farm of 350 acres, stooked at present by over a hundred stud sheep, and approximately 60 head of cattlo, To patients Intending to take up land cn discharge, instruction In all branches of farmlnc Is avallablo. Weekly, a party of enthusiasts from this class are taken to tho stock sales at Waipukurau, where they aro Instructed by tho farm manager how to estimate correctly stock values, a knowledge which will prove moat useful to them when they subsequently reach t.lin "tn(?o of selecting stock foe their own holdings, . In addition to tho farm, about six acres havo been set down in orohard and UlMicn irardpn. and a number of notionts aro being cnllghtoned upon how to pursuo these congenial vocations lucratively on discharge. Additional Instruction for Inmates at the sanatorium will bo available at an early date in poultry and bec-kcoping.