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scholars, afterwards undertaking the general supervision and advising teachers as to the course of work and the methods of instruction. As everything depends upon the efficiency of the teachers, every possible facility should be given to enable them to attend the necessary classes. I further recommend a bonus of £2 to every teacher qualifying to give instruction in domestic economy, including cookery and laundry-work. Departmental Assistance. —Capitation upon all classes held in accordance with the Technical Instruction Act. I further recommend a grant of one-half the cost of buildings erected as special centres of instruction; a grant of one-half the cost of appliances and fittings; a subsidy of £50 towards the salaries of special instructors for special centres; and a bonus of £2 to each teacher completing the course of instruction in domestic work and obtaining a certificate. In concluding this primary section I would express a hope that my suggestions may not be considered extravagant in the direction of grants and subsidies. Let me ask if, say, £10,000 is much in comparison with the benefits to be derived, for, assuredly, this work is the basis of the whole scheme of technical work. Failure here is failure throughout, and that is not to be thought of for one moment. My inspection has convinced me how greatly we are behindhand in the matters I have alluded to. We must compulsorily follow other nations in matters shown to be necessary. Why delay? Every year lost will make the work harder to accomplish.
SECTION IL—INTEBMEDIATE INSTRUCTION. (1.) Evening continuation schools. (3.) Farm schools. (2.) Higher-grade day schools. (4.) Secondary schools. 1. EVENING CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. Evening continuation schools should aim at direct continuity with the work of the primary day-school, in reality taking up the work where the standards left off, and continuing the study in order that scholars may be in a position to profit by the higher classes held in the technical schools and university colleges. The report of the Boyal Commission on Technical Instruction states : " These evening schools help to sustain a boy's interest in study at a time when he is likely to forget what he has acquired in the ordinary primary school. For the want of them, apprentices or young workmen frequently find themselves too ignorant to avail themselves of the special technical instruction which they have the opportunity of obtaining, and on this account, and also because they serve to give a youth a taste for study at the time when he begins to appreciate the value of instruction. These schools have proved to be most serviceable to German and Swiss artisans in quickening their intelligence, and in affording them useful information bearing upon their trades." There can be no doubt in the mind of any person who has read the report of this Commission that this question of continuation-work was very forcibly brought to the front, and proved the necessity of such classes (day and evening) being established if England was to be equal with other nations. Thus it is that an enormous advance has been made, and the recent regulations as to greater freedom of subject, non-compulsory examination, and that students may be over twentyone years of age, has tended to strengthen these classes to a very considerable extent; and I find generally a carefully "graded system leading from the elementary work of the primary school to the highest grades of technical work. With reference to the establishment of these schools or classes in New Zealand, as I have remarked previously, our centres are comparatively small. Concentration of effort is therefore very necessary in the larger towns. I suggest the school or classes should be attached to the technical schools; in the suburbs and country districts the classes might be attached to the local schools. In the latter case, where no technical school is available, there should be a wide range of subject, capitation being paid so long as such classes satisfied the department's Inspectors. Preference should naturally be given to subjects suitable to the requirements of the district. The advantage of having the continuation school or classes attached to the technical schools in large centres would be considerable, inasmuch as the various workshops and rooms used in manual and domestic instruction would be available for students desirous of following such a course of study. One would almost feel tempted, after reading the evidence of various commissions and special reports upon educational subjects, to adopt the Saxony method of making such attendance at a continuation class compulsory. German writers frankly state that in no sphere of life is compulsion more necessary than in education. Thus it is that in Saxony " All boys leaving the elementary schools are hereby required to attend a continuation school for three years, unless their further instruction is provided for by some other approved means. The masters in any branch of industry are bound, in the case of their workers under the age of eighteen, to allow them the necessary time to attend the continuation school, under a penalty provided." And further, "It is the duty of the board of management in each school to see that no scholar withdraws from the instruction." Business at home or trade employment of any kind is never to be accepted as an urgent ground. The time required to be devoted to these classes is fixed by law'as not less than two hours per week; it may, by the local authority, be raised to six. In Leipzig the local authority has altered the course to six hours per week for two years. In Saxony the law recognises a claim to exercise authority over the pupils after school hours ; thus, " the discipline of the continuation school extends to the behaviour of the scholar outside the school, so far as supervision aids the purpose of the schools. Visits to public dancing-halls and to all such exhibitions as are dangerous to uprightness and purity of character are strictly forbidden
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