EXHIBITION OF WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 275, 20 November 1931, Page 5

EXHIBITION OF WORK.

TECHNICAL COLLEGE DISPLAY WIDE VARIETY OF ARTICLES. REASON AND VALUE OF TRAINING. To see the many articles on display at the exhibition of the Seddon Memorial Technical College, which will be open until 9 p.m. to-night, is to realise the infinite variety of natural gifts. The display is representative of every department of the college, from engineering to dressmaking and leatherwork. The principal, Mr. G. J. Park, eo arranged things that each workshop will be occupied both in the evening and during the day, so that the public will have the opportunity to learn how the future craftsmen or Auckland are trained. Otherwise the ordinary routine of the school will be preserved. The assembly hall has been utilised for the exhibition, and the products of the various departments are arranged round it. Perhaps the display that most catches the eye is that from the woodwork students. There is a cabinet of polished woods of different colours, which would grace any home. On the wall above there are the various sectional drawings and plans which the pupil had to draw before the practical work was started. Mr. Park likened this part of the work to woodwork anatomy, in which the object seen as completed had to be dissected, and analysed, and then finally put together. Another interesting exhibit is a bowstring roof truss, designed to reach a 120 ft span without support. The model ie l-12th full size, and, suspended between two benches, will carry, the weight of scwt. Yet the truss is built of small pieces of light timber. The object of that piece of work, it was explained, was to teach the lad to think and to construct jointly, so that the development of the boy's hand and mind were corelated. The girls' domestic science exhibits are diverse in their interest. There are lino cuts, leather purees, colour work on paper and wood, black and white work, in short everything which would give training for a woman's industry. In 1923, when Mr. Park took charge, there were 20 girls in the day classes; in domestic science. To-day there are 250. There are also on show dressmaking exhibits and millinery work, posters and bric-a-bac of all kinds, all manner of art designs—in fact, there are products of any training which ie thought will be of value later in industrial life. The whole basis of the school, Mr. Park said, was to produce the type which industry wanted, and the exhibition everywhere illustrated his words.