The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, FBRUARY 16, 1915. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 135, 10 February 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

WEDNESDAY, FBRUARY 16, 1915. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

(With which is incorporated The 7'aihapo Post '>.a3 Waimarlno News.)

Technical education has not boon much in deni and in this locality, but the committee of the Taihape Technical School, realising their responsibilities, are not disposed to allow this branch of public instruction to become a dead letter without making some special effort to prevent it. They have accordingly secured the services of two wellknown educationists, Mr. I l '. Pirani and Mr. Matthews, to place the- advantages that science and art applied to any industry- confers before bur people, as well as to'make recommendations with respect to forming classes and the most approved air 1 popular methods of their conduct Schools have been established for very many years in some of on;* towns; they came into existence when it was difficult indeed 1o procure teachers in the subjects then in demand. One of the most successful of the old schools is that at Masterton; very many have been assisted through their civil service examinations, and many a farmer owes much of his success to the course .in agriculture, or agricultural chemistry, which he was enabled to take at that school. Whether the failure of classes here has anything to do with the procuration of teachers we arc not aware, but we know that that difficulty was"a deterrent factor twenty years ago at Masterton, where there were a great many desirous of taking up an agricultural course; and had it not been for the town having an enthusiast in agrieutlural chemistry in Mr. B. J. Dolan, who is now a solicitor in Napier, no class could have been started. If is io be hoped that, our local school has no such difficulty to face, and, if not, it Is scarcely understandable why pupils are not forthcoming. There must be need here for continuation classes as well as for tuition, in the principles of any specified science or art as applied to industries, with laboratory or workshop practice, or instruction in modern languages, or other subjects connected with industrial, commercial, agricultural or domestic pursuits. If we are to excel iu-pur factories am] work-

shops, our young men must have that course of instruction in the essentials of a general secondary education, and in subjects that are preliminary or introductory to the work they have selected. Many young women arc earning good livings with what they learned at a technical school shorthand class, tilling important positions as

shorthand-typistes, while others have taken the subject as one will) which to pass their civil service* examination. In fact, there are few young people who cannot acquire some knowledge a! a technical school that will nor. prove valuable to them in afterlife. Rural education should be in earnest demand in m agricultural district such as thi« is, and if Messrs. Pi rani and Matthews do not give this subject some special attention we shall be disappointed.' It is, indeed, essential, and will be more so as settlement becomes more dense, that lads destined for farm life should be afforded opportunities of continuing and developing the general training received in the day school, and also of preparing themselves for the course of technical instruction which is available for them at the age when they realise that, if they are to advance, themselves in life and handle economically the various things—animal, vegetable and mineral—dealt with on a farm, in a garden or orchard, the practical knowledge gained in daily life must be supplemented by study. Agricultural colleges are institutions we cannot have in every district, hut we can provide, through our technical schools, a course, in rural science, which should include tuition in plant life and soils, principles of farming and gardening, scale drawing, and, if possible, some practical farm and garden work, to every young farmer who has sufficient interest in his vocation to avail himself of it. We’know that many -who took this course at the Mastefton school will testify to the advantage it has been to them; we also know men and women who owe their position in life to the instruction they received at the Masterton technical school classes. We mention this to encourage Unbelief in our Taihape youth that nothing blocks the way to them taking similar advantages to those that have been reaped by young people in other parts of the Dominion. The fees for attending such classes are nominal ; it is the subsidisation by the State thal renders the. technical education courses available to all sections of our people.- Parents, particularly farmers, will find it in the best interests of their sons to attend the meeting next Monday to hear what Messrs. Pi rani and Matthews have to sav to them.