TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1921, Page 6

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

THE TARANAKI DISTRICT. I Reports regarding administration of { technical education work throughout i Taranaki during the past month were j received at yesterday’s meeting of the ■ Taranaki Education Board. A resume is I.given below:—■. NEW PLYMOUTH TECHNICAL COLLEGE. The principal of the New Plymouth Technical College reported that the attendance at the day -school had been regular. The total was now 171. The report continued: —Apparatus for teaching practical magnetism and electricity is required. So far we have not ‘had any apparatus of this kind, and it is essential for teaching the practical side of the subject. I suggest that an application be made for a grant. Mr. Isaac, the departmental inspector, paid his annual visit to the school during the month. He thoroughly inspected the school, and expressed his satisfaction at the work, and particularly the tone of the school. The board will no doubt receive his report in duo course. The hostel still has the same number, of boarders (seven). Several have intimated that they wish to board next term. Teachers’ classes are well attended, the roll number being 28. In addition to these there are 20 teachers taking correspondence courses. Application is to be made to the department for a grant for magnetic apparatus as requested. The headmaster of the Hawera Teeh-, nical High School (Mr. A. Gray) reported that the attendance was 175, and the I number attending the evening classes was ! 135. The report continued:— The following are results of Pitman’s ! shorthand special examinations, held re- I cently under the supervision of the Rev. ! A. Liversedge and Mr. C. O. Ekdahl:— 120 words per minute, Vera Slinger, May Gilbert, OJive Jones, Dorothy Machin; 80 words per minute, Marguerite Fake. Jeanette Bell, Ena Spurdie; full certificate of efficiency, Edith Pugh; sec-ond-class theory certificate, May Gillman, Reno Agostinelli; third class elementary certificate, Rose Nolan, Ruby Oliver. As the question of the disposal of the present building will doubtless come up for discussion. I beg to suggest that it should be still available for school use when, necessary, and that evening classes should, when possible, be conducted in it. I beg to express our thanks to the following:—Sports and Pastimes Club, set of boxing .gloves; Messrs. Donnelly and Co., £1 is for sports fund; Mr. A. Lees, ].os 6d for sports fund; Mrs. Lankow, gift of milk to boarding house. ELTHAM SCHOOL. The supervisor (Mr. Wm. C. Bicheno) reported:—During the past month the manual and technical classes have been held regularly, and with satisfactory attendance. Commercial Classes (shorthand and book-keeping): Being an adult class a very satisfactory result is 'obtained. The lads attending compulsory technical classes (woodwork, English and arithmetic) are more interested in their work than formerly. I believe this to be due to the assistance Mr. Reed renders to the practical work of the boys, and the growth of tlie reading habit among the English, class. As a number of boys are leaving at the end of the year, I am correlating a vary ■ elementary course pf book-keeping with their arithmetic. The manual classes have been held regularly for the boys, hut the domestic class is yet waiting an instructress.

AGRTCULTURAL WORK. The agricultural instructor (Mr. H. C. Johnson) reported: —Regular secondary work has been carried out at Stratford, the classes handled by me dealing principally with the examination syllabus. The teachers’ classes have been regularly attended, and satisfactory work is being done. It i.s to be regretted that correspondence classes have been hold up so long. 1 feel now that it seems ecarceily worth while entering upon them this year, although such a procedure may l appear as a breach of agreement with the teachers who attended these courses. I have visited altogether 23 primary ’ schools this month. Many have been ’visited in connection with the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. While admitting that good | work is being done in many schools by the committees, in conjunction with the staff and pupils of the school, yet I would specially mention Cardiff, Pembroke, Riverlea and Fitzroy. In the early part of the month, we staged and judged at the Havvem Winter fchtuv exhibits from the primary schools. The exhibits were, through some misunderstanding, somewhat cramped, but were extremely creditable. In fact, I would say that the note-books and records were the strongest I have ever judged in Taranaki. I would specially emphasise the graphical and record work. This seems to be a very important phase wjtich. farmers neglect entirely. It has been said that “the weakness of the New Zealand farmer is the absence of record.” For the coming season we have many ne\v schools entering into these competitions from all parts of the district. The southern has developed not too rapidly, I hope, and this year there has been competitions in mangolds, carrots and calf-raising, over twenty schools taking part. The central area, Stratford to Inglewood, has swedes. The number of schools in this area is not yet definite. The northern area has mangolds end carrots, and so far 15 schools have submitted entries totalling over 150. Whilst these clubs are doing good work, and are capable of doing still better work, yet I do not think they are yet on a foundation which guarantees any permanency—this can hardly be expected since we have no precedent in any part- of the world to guide us.