TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 323, 24 February 1910, Page 6

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

o At tiic Julucaiioii Hoard meeting yestenia v lhe ioiiowing extract from the report of the Kdiß-iitiini Department's liit-peclor of .Manual a:ul Technical Instruction in respect to classes held in tlie Taranaki district was road: Certain lmiUcr.-; in (imuection with the organisation of technical classes appear to call lor consideration. (1) It is a matter for regret that so far the technology of the chief industries' of Taranaki has not received attention at the technical schools com- ! mensurate with their economic importanee. Good work in dairying of an elementary character has been done in school classes in connection with the secondary department of the Stratford District. ' High School, but 110 attempt ! appears to have been made to deal with the more advanced problems of the | butter and cheese industry in technical j classes'. The laboratory at New Ply- | mouth is used on Saturday mornings for I a certain part of the year for teachers' | classes in elementary agriculture, by 1 pupils for elementary physical measurei incuts from the Central School, and lor ! an evening technical class in electricity and magnetism, and for no other classes. The efforts made in another district to : interest those engaged in butter and cheese -production in the laboratory solution of the simpler problems with ; which they meet in their daily work have to some extent been successful, 1 and should be an incentive to the controlling authority of technical classes' in Taranaki to inaugurate a course of .instruction on similar lines, and the opinion is expressed that in a district from which butter and cheese to the I value of £1,024,144 was exported in ; 1908 little difficulty should be experiI enced in securing a sufficient number of •| students to ensure the success of the , classes. i With the view of discovering if there is any demand for instruction of this : kind, ought not something in the nature j of a ''special school" for factory managers be arranged? It might be held 1 during the off season, and extend, s'ay, I to working days, the course of instrucj tion occupying about five hours on each day. During this time it should be pos« sible to deal practically with: (a) The elementary chemistry of some of the various substances and their com* I pounds' met with in dairying; (b) Dairy bacteriology; and (c) The principle and practice of butter and cheese making. Provided the services of the right in- ; structor were secured, sufficient interest ; in the subjects of study should be crej ated to warrant the continuance of the I classes. In this connection, would it not 1 be possible for the Board, when making | the appointment for the special assist--1 ant for the agricultural course at Stratj ford, to consider the matter in conjunction with an extension of technical in- ; struction in the district on the lines ; indicated above? j' (2) It is considered that the time has ' arrived when the Board should consider 1 the expediency of appointing an officer - who would devote the whole of his time : to the interests of the Technical School -at New Plymouth. The present arrangement of placing the general organisation of manual and technical instruction throughout the district in liarga of the Chief Inspector of Schools has much to commend it, but it is physically impossible for an officer whose principal duties take him away from New Plymouth the greater, part of the week to give the time to the organisation of the school and the attention 60 -the many small yet important duties' , which it demands if the school is to Ihe a success. It is considered that if : the school (and its work) is to be ( brought into direct relation with the , industry of the district and justify its | existence as a technical school some one ! will have to take charge of it. With regard to the course in agriculture at the Stratford District High School, attention is drawn to the students' note-books: (1) They are untidily kept, and (2) do not contain a satisfactory resume of the work done durj in g the year. In this connection it is | suggested that the pupils should keep ! separate note-books' for each -subject taken.

Mr. Cargill moved that a copy of this report and the Chief Inspector's report) on the subject be forwarded to the members of the Board at least two days before next meeting, to facilitate discussion on the matter

cuss'ion on {Tie matter. —The motion was adopted.