NORTH CANTERBURY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13683, 17 March 1910, Page 8

NORTH CANTERBURY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

A general meeting of the Educational Institute was held on Saturday morning, in tho Normal School. Mr T. W. Ambrose presided. The meeting was called to receive the report of delegates to the Annual Conference of the New Zealand Institute. Miss Chaplin, in reviewing the work done at the conference so far as women teachers were specially concerned, referred to the sewing syllabus, and strongly objected to the difficulty of the sewing paper set at the Teachers' "D" examination.

Mr Just referred to several of the remits. A benevolent fund had been established for the assistance of needy members. Most of the objections to tho syllabus seemed to arise from wiong interpretation of its clauses. He thought that the Education Act should be amended to give the Court of Appeal power in cases of transfer. Teachers' security of tenure must be sustained. There should be some means of coordinating the different departments of teaching from the primary school to the tinder one governing body.

The Chairnutn said the conference showed that North Canterbury was specially fortunate in its inspectorate, the syllabus being interpreted in a very liberal spirit.

Mr Hughes, a member of the Educational Conference, in reviewing the work done, said that tho general conference was interesting as being the first of its kind in which representatives of primary, secondary, and higher education were met together to coordinate in some degree the various branches of the educational system in New Zealand. It was mainly interesting in that it indicated roughly the lines upon which educational reforms might be expected to go in the future. __ On the motion of Messrs Kirkpatrick and Evans, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the delegates. A resolution was passed protesting strongly against the difficulty of the sewing paper for -'D" examination.

A vote of sympathy was passed to Miss Grant, who is in ill-health, and to Mrs Foster, whoselate husband was foi marly a teacher in North Canterbury.