Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1899 The Education Report.

Manawatu Herald, 24 August 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1899 The Education Report.

Unfortunately but few take the trouble to read the Annual Report of the Minister of Education, though it is drawn up by the head of the department, and they thus frequently miss points which would make them doubtful if the great expense is realising anything like a fair return for the expenditure. To keep within the Tables supplied with the Report we will instance the cost of the teaching staff alone as an instance of growth without apparently of increased benefit to the colony. To the sum for this purpose would have to be added £43,800 for last year's school building vote, and the expenses incurred by retaining Education Boards, which is also a large item, Referring back to the cost of the teaching staff we find that it amounted to £364,373 last year and was £'4,861 more than the year before. At first sight this may not seem out of the way because there happened to be more schools built and therefore needing teachers, but though this is the case yet the other striking portion of these particulars discloses that the working average for the year was 111,636, less by 69* than the corresponding number for 1897. We arrive at another peculiarity, that though Truant Inspectors have been abroad, the average daily for the year was 737 less than the previous year. The Report tries to account for the falling off in th« numbers on the school rolls slightly as a natural result of the gradual lowering of the age at which the standards are passed, and more from the birth-rate which has been falling rapidly for some years. We appear thus to be handicapped in two ways, first by having less children to teach, and secondly by having to erect more schools to teach them in, as we find that the number of schools with less than 25 increased during the j year by 18, making the total of such schools 632 as against the 1624 schools in the colony. A few more years of a like character, that is, population getting distributed in the country requiring small schools, and the birthrats diminishing in the towns, will add very considerably to the cost of

our system of education whilst partially imparing the value of it, and it is a question that demands the serious consideration of all.

There is on« portion of the Report well worth bearing in mind by both Boards and Committees, as the illjudged pushing of parents to send j children to school at all costs whether ill or well, seems to have wrought its own punishment. Referring to the decrease in last year's attendance the Report says, '• Reference to table A shows that there has been only one other year— viz. 1893 — in which the total average attendance has fallen below that of the previous year. It is significant that in both years the colony was visited by an epidemic of measles. In 1893 the attendance fell from Bo*6 to 78*5 of the average roll — that is, apparently about 2,640 children were abseut each day throughout the year; but as the epidemic lasted for only part of the year, and each child would be away from school, say five or six weeks, we might say roughly, therefore, that about 20,000 children were affected. In 1898 the percentage of attendance fell from 82*9 to 82*4, or there was an apparent falling-off in the average attendance of about 670 ; the epidemic was much slighter, and the absences were as a matter of fact, shorter in duration, although on medical grounds apparently no difference in the length of absence from school should bz made whether the outbreak assumes, in any particular case, a mild or a malignant form. We are probably not far from the truth if we estimate that in 1898 about 7000 children were affected. Quite apart from consideration of health, it appears not improbable, therefore, that by the enforcement of stricter concerted measures of quarantine, Boards and Committees might considerably lessen the interruptions to school work, and thus increase the efficiency of the work, while they might, at the same time, guard themselves against the serious loss of revenue consequent upon the prolonged prevalence of an epidemic affecting school-children. The Hon John McKenzie returns to New Zealand by the Gothic. The Commissioner of Crown Lands gives notice to-day that section 45, Levin Village Settlement, will be open for lease in perpetuity on 20th September. Captain Weiby, an Englishman exploring in the south-west of Abyssinia, has discovered a tribe of giants seven feet high. The N.Z. Times says, New Zealand Ministers push their . dignity to the edge of burlesque, and their reticence to the point of absurdity. During the five days' racing at Christchurch last week over £40,000 was put through the totalisator. The Manawatu Times says, Mr H. Border, of Foxton, who has purchased the Railway Hotel, takes possession at the end of this month. Commissioner Tunbridge is issuing regulations for the guidance of the police in cases of severe drunkenness, apoplexy, and wounds that may come under their care. A copy will be sent to each constable. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Company will sell by public auction on the Bth of September, at Hawera, two very valuable properties comprising 670 acres of the very best land in Taranaki. Plans and further particulars can be obtained from Mr F. Griffiths, Auctioneer, Hawera. There are three dairy factories and a bacon factory within two miles of the property. Mr A. Henderson, an experienced saddler and harness maker, has purchased the business lately carried on by Mr Chuck, but has moved from the shop Mr Chuck occupied to that fine position at the corner of Main and Clyde streets. Mr Henderson has shown exhibits of his work at Wellington and Hawera Shows, and has carried off first prizes. Mr Henderson has in stock a number of new saddles, spurs, whips, &c, which he is disposing of at very low prices. Yesterday the body of the late Mrs Symons was laid to rest in the 'cemetery. A large number of residents and friends from Palmerston, Horowhenua, Taranaki, and Wellington attended to show this last mark of respect to one they had known so long, and respected so highly. The Rev. Mr Watson conducted the service, and the funeral was in the hands of Mr A. Jonson. On the first page the Te Aro H ouse Drapery Co., Ltd., call particular attention to their correspondents as to how their letters should be addressed. The Wirokino bridge is getting a start, the foreman hag a blacksmith's j shop up and a whare, and has some timber on the ground for building punts, as well as some squared timber up the river. We understand the contractor has secured some piles from the government with which to make a start and they will very shortly be delivered here. The Advocate says, the Rev. W. Woollass was the preacher at the Primitive Methodist Church, Feilding, on Sunday. The evening and afternoon services were attended by large congregations. The text of the evening discourse was : " And another book was opened, and every man judged according to his deeds whether they were good or evil." The sermon was interesting as well as impressive, owing to the vivid manner in which Mr Woollass illustrated the subject. The choir, under the leadership of Mr Eade, sang several special hymns and the anthems " Plead Thou my Cause," and " I will praise the name of God," all most appropriate to the service. Messrs P. Hennessy & Co. have a direct shipment from Sydaey of tin travelling trunks, which they are offering at Wellington wholesale prices. A sample is on view in then: window. Electricity is now being employed by anglers. The line of the up-to-date fisherman consists of a fine wire, and the moment a fish touches the hook it is electrocuted. An angler in America is reported to have caught in this way over 3001 bof fish in three hours.

Tow is now in demand, and our local ropemaker is preparing to hackle this article for sale. The Town Clerk notifies that Mr Frederick J. Shadbolt has been duly appointed ranger for the Borough. Flax is still on the rise. This week £19 10s a ton was paid for immediate delivery, and £zo was offered for fibre up to the end of the year. The Lawn Tennis Club meeting has been again postponed to Tuesday next. A London confectioner says that he is sometimes called on to furnish wedding cakes weighing iooolb each, and puddings of a size sufficient for 500 hearty appetites. Snooks—" I am celebrating my golden wedding to-morrow." Chooks — " Golden wedding ! Why, you've only been married two years." Snooks " Yes ; but it seems like fifty." Over 300 towns in the United States have now adopted the Curfew Law, by which children under 15, unaccompanied by their parents or without special permits, are prohibited from being in the streets after 8 p.m. in winter and after 9 in summer. A strange burial is reported from Amesbury, Massachusetts. Reuben John Smith, aged 71, erected in his lifetime a marble sarcophagus containing a. commodious chair. As his will directed, his corpse Was seated therein, attired in a morning suit, with hat and overcoat, the steel door was locked and bricked over, and the key was destroyed. Mr Terrell, an English barrister, who is on a visit to Rennes, describes the trial of Dreyfus as being characterised by an air of unreality. He believes that Colonel Jouaust, President of the Court-martial, favours the acquittal of the prisoner. As to the other members of the tribunal, he considers it likely that instructions from their superiors are likely to outweigh their military prejudices. The Bon Marche, in Paris has the largest kitchen in the world. It provides food for all the employes of the house, 4000' in number. The smallest kettle holds 75 quarts; the largest 375 quarts. There are 50 fryingpans, each of which is capable of holding 300 cutlets at a time, or of frying 2201 bof potatoes. When there are omelettes for breakfast 7800 eggs are used. The coffee machine makes 750 quarts of coffee daily. There are 60 cooks and 100 kitchen boys employed. The Press says that the Berkshire pig, from Dalethorpe, that Mr George Andrews bought at the Addington saleyards last week, , has been killed, and its dressed weight was soilb. In reference to heavy-weight pigs, several of which have been killed during the past year, it may be mentioned that a pure-bred Tamworth was killed in Victoria a short time ago, and was said to weigh 7871 b dressed. The Victorian pig, however, was nowhere compared with one reported to have been slaughtered recently in the United States. The animal was a red Jersey boar, 2^ years old, and dressed 13361 b. The biggest hog previously known was iooolb dead weight. An extraordinary scene was witnessed a few weeks ago in the grounds of Milton Park, Peterborough. A heron, which had been fishing in a pond near Milton House, captured a fine fish, which it brought up struggling at the end of its long bill, when another heron, which had been watching from the shore, plunged into the water and tried to take away the fish. A desperate combat ensued, as both birds were full grown, powerful, and majestic. They fought with both bill and wing, dealing out hard knocks rapidly, and uttering shrieks of anger. So furiously raged the duel that the combatants raised quite a cloud of feathers round them. Suddenly one rolled over, and the other, uttering a victorious " frank," the heron's peculiar cry, and gathering up its long legs, soared to the trees, where it begau preening its disordered plumes. An examination proved that the other bird had been killed outright. Juan Tonkin, a civil engineer, of Iquique, Chili, has been granted a patent for a hydrodynamo and has arranged with certain . capitalists in New York for the formation of a company with £2,000,000 capital to introduce and operate the invention. The hydrodynamo is an ingenious but simple means of employing the motion of sea waves in acquiring power. It has been in successful operation in Iquique, and has been approved by leading hydraulic engineers. It is the intention of the American company to erect a plant of 2000 horse power in the vicinity of New York within a short time. Mr Tonkin has conferred with eminent electrical engineers in New York, and a plan has been perfected for transmitting power from the sea coast to the nitrate beds of Chili, a distance of fifty or sixty miles in the interior, where 150,000 tons of coal are annually consumed.