The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE 8th, 1907. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 8 June 1907, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE Bth, 1907. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

It is impossible to over-estimate the , value 01' a knowledge of the commercial . arls to young colonials, and the fact j that New Plymouth now has a technical ischool is further evidence, if such were ' needed, of the importance that the powers that he alUeh to the subject. ! A man may rise to the highest eminence without any knowledge whatever of the heathen mythology, the Greek poets or Uoman law, hut the mail who is soundly

grounded iii practical knowledge, now ' h ippily available to most young people in Mew Zealand, lias an'immense advan! age over young people not similarly eared for in this respect. The (luvoriinieiit are .-pending, a lirge amount of money "on technical education and the arrangements in connection with technical classes are unusually complete, and if some centres have received the advantages tardily, it is usually because they have not hustled to lake advantage of that portion of the Education Act of 1(104 dealing with the subject under review. The keenness of pupils in various parts of the colony to take advantage of this instruction has resulted in many cases of overcrowding. So tint this is an example to the youths of this town and district to attend the classes now available at the school opened with so much success on Thursday. Youths are quite naturally disposed during their callow days to "have a good time," and many a person much regrets in adult age bis inability to gain such a living as he might have done if he had taken advantage of all available educational facilities. It is, ot course, a well-known fact that there is a dilliculty about apprenticeships, thanks to some of our labor laws. This fact was mentioned by the Minister for Education in the course of bis speech at the opening of the local school on Thursday. 'i'he dilliculty is minimised to some extent by the youngsters' chances of schooldays instruction.

So wide is the scope of technical instruction available to all who care to receive it that both girls and bo 3's may gain extremely useful knowledge of those essential arts that are likely to become valuable in the work-a-day world. The regulations under the Act make if as easy for the authorities to get up classes for the teaching of agriculture and dairy work as for any other subject, and we were please.il to learn on Thursday that the New Plymouth school purposes undertaking the leaching of these necessary. and valuable subjects. Although the son of- a farmer may believe he knows all there Is to know about (he soil, whit grows out of it. how lo make it grow, and what lives on the top of it, hi.-, attendance at a technical class will convince him (hat his ignorance is chaotic aral a thing lo be immediately enlightened. Science applied to farming must produce the best results. Science applied to anything else, for that matter, must be product ive of good results. It is hero where technical instruction is so valuable. We do not believe that technical education alone will make a thorough tradesman of the youth, or make him a successful farmer. He must have the practical knowledge, the every-day working knowledge, but it is technical learning thai will give him the finer points, the science of the thing he is striving for or is engaged upon.

Wo have no doubt dial; parents will at once see the value of the advantages offered to the children and will regard the gathering of technical knowledge by their children not so much as •■accomplishments" as absolute essentials. Thus it is of more value to a boy to learn how to gel the greatest profit out of a cow than it is for liim to stay home and milk a minimum quality of milk from the cow. So great a value is placed on technical education in other countries (notably (icrniany and America) that great commercial concerns have their own schools. Many great houses in Cermany cut out a portion of the working day for technical instruction, and find that the increased skill of the work-er-pupils pays the concern. There is, of course, a greater incentive to get the highest technical skill in every other country than unfortunately is the case in our colony, merely because there is no minimum wage in most oilier countries and the higher the skill of a worker the higher his pay. There is barely a limit to the wages a good man may earn Cor skilled manual work in other countries, although the wages of (lie least skilled workmen is less than the colonial rale. For instance, English blacksmiths, with special knowledge of heavy arms, who had been working in Wolwich arsenal for years at ;CII a week, on discharge from the arsenal, went to Ccnnany and at once were paid wages at .Cli, .17 and even up to £lO a week. Mr Okey, in his remarks on Thursday, struck a true note when he referred to the levelling effect some of our industrial legislation is having upon the workers of this colony. We want to obtain (he very best results from and for labor, but if there is the one standard wage for the ellicient and inefficient workman alike, the great quality ol incentive is absent, and the best results therefore cannot be

|Skill in technical work means all and all to New Zealand. A glance at the statistics recently published shows licit -New Zealand exports only raw materials —the manufactured exports being unworthy of mention. The point to hear in mind is tlml New Zealand is dependent entirely on outside supplies of uianul'aclured articles, and it is the obvious intention of (he powers that are, by (he facilities they alt'oni to youngsters (o

acquire the arts of commerce, to remove tin- iim/i-.-sity for outside lu-lp. When Xew Zealand null's a i remcndoiis falling oil' in til.' Customs returns, it will InUnit fur the country to congratulate itsoil', fin 1 llic success of a country is to be guaged not by the goods it buys, hut liy I bi' goods il makes and sells, preferably to its own people, hut also to other peoples. The I,ny who oil leaving School is silili- to go (o a technical school to gill her knowledge of ;l sort lie .'.'.peels to be 1.1.1.. (.. nuike ii livinir with has a big -larl. U'e would in-,. i,j„.n Ihe young people i.l' .New Plymouth and the contiguous district, not only the value of Ihe splendid -rlvuic of technical c.lu.'.itimi available 1., them, hut the absolute I neees-ily of il. II is e-:,,.iitial (Inil (lie

counlry should be manned by people who .nv as skilled as their old world compel iters, and with the natural aptitude lor neq.iirine knowledge we have no doubt thai young -New Zeahindei- will

push forward lo a pre-eminence in (he in.liislrial world. In conclusion, we congratiilale the Education Hoard and the Technical School Committee on Ihe great work they have done in providing the school they have, and for doing the work in connection with it they have so ciithu-siasii-ally done. We congratulate, too. the iireliiteet and eonlraelor on the efficient and I'iiilhful way in which they have carried out their part of Ihe work. We join in Ihe hopes expressed at Thursday's function thai the school will have a

siieeessfnl carce: and he a source of help and blessing to the youili of Die neighborhood.