TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1927, Page 4

TECHNICAL COLLEGE

EXHIBIT AT WINTER SHOW

An exhibit that takes the eye on entering the industrial section of the Winter Show is the display of studeuts' work of the Wellington Technical College. It is safe to say that before they saw this display few of the visitors had any idea of the wide range of the instruction or of the :ceptionaUy high quality of the resul. It is natural that the work of tin.- art school should claim first attention for not only is nearly half the wall space covered with examples of landscape work, studies from life ana from the antique, etchings, poster design and book illustration,' but a large case at the entrance is full of specimens of metal-craft admirable alike in design and in execution, while another case contains dainty silversmith's work. An outstanding feature of the art display is the modelling as shown in several busts from life. The remaining wall space is covered by engineering and building drawings, for the most part executed by boys taking industrial courses in the High School. While the mechanical drawing is generally excellent, the lettering is below the usual standard, especially by comparison with that in the art section. On the front of the stall is a fine piece of joinery—a half full size replica in oak of the reredos in the famous Abbey of St. Albans. That this should be executed by two third-year apprentices is sufficient testimony to the character of the instruction given, as indeed is also shown by a staircase and an oak table, the latter being tho work of a boy of IB years. In all sections , the visitor will be struck by the youth of the exhibitors. This is particularly noticeable in the engineering section, where a countershaft, overhead trolley, vices, and examples of intricate screw cutting, and key ways have been made by High School boys of 15* years. There are also excellent specimens of plumbers' work done by apprentices in the evening school.

The display of the home science department is conspicuous both for its variety and excellence. Cakes, ■ biscuits, sweets, syrups, preserved fruits, jama, and sauces indicate the scope of the instruction in cookery, while the exhibits in dress-making and mijlinery, though few in number, show clever and. careful workmanship by the girls of the High School that would do credit to adult craftswomen.

Students and instructors alike are to be congratulated on the results of their efforts; industrialists will recognise that they have in the college an institution that is doing much to ensure a good standard of craftsmanship in the future.