EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 7649, 27 June 1888, Page 2

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

The evening sitting of the above was held last night, the hall being full, Mr D. White, M. A. (who occupied the chair), read a paper entitled

< THE HISTORY OF THE IDEAL IN EDUCATION,| from which we extract the following : What is the ideal or the aim of the primary education of to-day ? Is it to make a machine adroit at its work, or to make a man? We are told that elementary education has no final aim or end—should be looked on as a means or a process, not an end. It is not of so much importance to know what we are doing as how we are doing it, though the one must bear some relation to the other; therefore we should select the fittest subjects in education and concentrate our attention on them. Knowledge may be valuable in itself, or valuable as a discipline, or both. Our ideal of education should not be to overload the memory with other people’s opinions, but to impart the power of thinking, or the power of acquiring when occasion demands it, We need to be reminded of this in these days, especially when the tendency is to esteem nothing of value in education unless it can be seen and weighed and measured. In proposing that a reasonable limit be placed on primary education and a proper aim given to it, we must see to secure common elements wide enough to prepare “for all careers, but be special to none, ’ Now, a cast-iron code for education purposes is about as useless as Carlyle’s cast-iron king would be for legislative purposes; but we must have something for common guidance. Wo find these things common to every system; (1) Physical education ; (2) ability to speak and write the native tongue—especially necessary in modern times, when speech does so much to influence the conduct of society ; and (3) a simple and rational system of calculation and number. These, the essential requirements, have to be considered in two ways: first, as to the process of education, and next as to the aim ; in other words, the degree of education the people require, and the kind of education adapted to their social and industrial condition. These must all be adjusted to the circumstances of the people. From an educationist standingpoint, in regard to the degree or amount of education, there is only one answer: We desire a more thorough education. But the question must be looked at from another point of view—the political view of the matter.

Are we over-educating the people? In arranging a course of private Instruction and education we invariably consider the person s natural ability. So in planning a system for the nation we have regard to the natural degree of its intelligence. What would not be too high for a civilised nation would be above the hereditary aptitude of the Hottentot or Eskimo, We should, then, look at his present social position and his probable career. If we wished him to rise in the social scale, we would give him a better education than we should otherwise think of, because if his future is to be greater and better than his predecessors he must have a higher standard of education than they had. This is what we actually do with the individual—why not so with the class, with the nation ? But lam told that this may be carried too far. The youth we have been considering, after he has had this expensive and better education, may be unequal to the work for which he was destined, or, worse still, may be unable to make a respectable living at it. If this takes place with the individual, it may take place with the State. Now, the State cannot afford such costly experiments, with its problematic and intangible results. What is the use of giving a university education to a laboring man ? We must have laborers. Even in Utopia there were slaves who did the menial work. I admit these are the extremes of the case—it could not be put more if there is a laborer that with education could rise to be a professor, why should he not have the opportunity ? I say “if there is a laborer ” ; but the hypothesis is useless. Does not history place that supposition in the region of fact over and over again ? But I shall concede something to practical results and practical aims. A primary system of education that was equivalent to a university edu3ation would be an absurdityjust as absurd as itwould be to deny all education to the laborer because his work may be done without education at all. No one accepts these extremes—the truth lies between them; and only a full consideration of our facts and ideals will enable us to draw the line at the proper place, not too high and not too low.

In proposing a system of national education for practical working, we must know something of the material we have to deal with, for it is possible, as we have seen, to have an education system altogether too elaborate and extravagantly out of proportion to the numbers, occupations, and importance of the various classes that go to make up a nation. The inhabitants of New Zealand, or of any country with similar social conditions, may be roughly divided into a few large and important classes. I ask you, for the purpose of the problem before us, to look at these (the figures are taken from the recent census returns, and are in every instance in approximate or round numbers); We have (I) servants and laborers making 7 per cent, of the population; (2) the industrial classes, 21 per cent.; (3) the agricultural class about the same, ?1 per cent.; (4) the commercial class, 8 per cent.; (5) the professional class, \\ per cent.; and (6) local and General Government servants, i per cent. In this view of the people, as regards their occupations and proportionate numbers, we should be furnished with some idea of the standard of education required for each class, and further should be enabled to adapt our whole national education—lower, middle, and higher—to the immediate wants and future development of the body politic. The system must not overlook any class, nor give more prominence to any than its numbers and importance actually demand. Beginning with the classes in the order in which I have enumerated them, we find there are, first, 40,000 servants performing persona offices for man, and unskilled laborers. What standard of education shall the Government place within their reach ? Here the special requirements are at their minimum ; but here, too, the danger to the State from want of education is at its greatest, is it not ? The preventive means must be more effective at this point than at any other. The foundation must be laid broad and deep and sure—the pyramid will not stand on its apex. Every reformer, social or political, tells us that the people are not sufficiently provident, not sufficiently conscientious, not sufficiently intelligent—and is anyone prepared to deny it ? Now, where are these people, if not here with others that I am naming ? These leave school first—necessarily so. For this olass, presumably, the compulsory legal standard of education is fixed in our system. Those who do not know what it is say it is too high—say that we are giving too much education for these people. Too much education to these poor people ! Too high a type of intelligence ! I am sure if those who think so only knew what we know about this standard of education thfey would never rest satisfied until it was made even higher and better. But perhaps at this point in the system there is no extravagance in the way of education—that occurs higher up, Book at the next class, then, the industrial and agricultural classes, numbering some 140,000 people. These make up nearly 40 per cent, of the available working population. They are really the people, are the direct producers of the wealth, and have all more or less special functions, requiring more educational advantages than the preceding class, and special facilities for obtaining them. It is hero, I suppose, that the popular objection of over-educating applies, The ideal in education is too high. Education, we are told, gives a distaste for trade art employments, and induces large numbers Jfco crowd into what are termed the genteel” occupations in other words, increases the commercial' and professional classes by a withdrawal from industrial and agricultural' pursuits. '£b»s is a weighty objection. I admit, snd it requires careful study, is education doing this? It has much to do with it; but does not account for all the facts. There are other reasons for this upward movement, or presumably upward movement. Since the necessary qualifications are now within the reach of numbers larger ,thsn jfofmerly, the appli-

cants for professional or semi-professional work are of course increased. So long as education was restricted to a class, to the few, there was not this tendency or this desire ; and more than that, education, being less general, was considered by those who did not have it to entitle the favored few to appropriate wealth, rank, and social distinction unchallenged by those who could not hope to share this standard of comfort by reason of their ignorance. The prospect of attaining to this is to many a newly acquired privilege, and, as a new field, will have for a time the effect of drawing more towards it than are required. But we need not lower the standard of education to rectify this; this state of things will adjust itself, as supply is regulated to demand in other competitive conditions. But there are other reasons why these positions are sought after. Rightly or wrongly these classes are associated with more leisure, more refinement, more education. It is education, I think, with its accompanying advantages, that confers this distinction on commercial and professional life. And what is the remedy ? Not less education. Less education will separate only more widely than ever the social classes of community, and intensify the feeling that industrial labor is something disgraceful, and something incompatible with education ; but a more wide-spread education will ultimately be the first thing to disabuse men’s minds that it is better to be a clerk than an artisan. I conclude so, and facts bear out this conclusion. Not long ago, if anyone in the highest class descended to have anything to do with trade or commerce he lost caste; but this feeling is disappearing, and why? Trade and commerce are now felt to be quite consistent with intelligence and education'; and this has broken down the barriers. Every advance of education will, in the same way, tend to take away any reproach that is attached to honest labor and activity; and when education has done for industry what it has for commerce and trade, there will then be no marked disinclination to enter the industrial ranks. But men strive after wealth, and after education as a means of getting wealth and of attaining to a higher standard of comfort, and why diminish opportunities of doing this? Mak partisan work more remunerative by increasing the skill and intelligence of the workers, and you will soon cause a change in the social relations. And this is to be effected, not by decreasing the amount of education; it is education and skill that enhance the value of labor. But these workers in industry and agriculture get no special facilities for education such as are provided for commercial and professional classes. For clergymen, doctors, lawyers, and commercial men there are high schools and universities ; but there are no art and science schools for the mechanic, the surveyor, the architect, the engineer, to prepare them for dealing with the new phenomena of industrial life. On the ideas involved in the question of industrial education I wish to say only one word. General training must precede special training, and we must take care not to specialise too early. There is very great danger in this. I believe we shall yet have special schools for this work with a scholarship leading to the University, as we now have for those following up a commercial or professional career. That we are ready for this state of things is for others to determine. In this brief illustration of the history and development of education all the leading aims and purposes are so far being gradually introduced and the ideas being gradually realised. There is, however, one principle in Spencer’s system not receiving prominence as yet in national education, and when it is proposed it will be met as we have seen every advance in education has been met, with the cry “ We are having too much education ; the ideal is altogether too high. ” We shall be told that education is making more misery and creating desires and hopes that will never be fulfilled, that people are now being educated only to enable them to become more discontented than ever, and more dissatisfied than ever with their social condition. Quite true, education is partly responsible for this state of things. He that increases knowledge increases anxiety; but a fuller knowledge, and a better education, will lead us not only to see the evils, but also to remove them. And what are the evils ? Briefly these: In the social classes that we have been looking at, there are not that diffusion of happiness and distribution of wealth that there should be. Changes must take place here before this can be done, however; the people must know something of the principles of legislation and of economic science. Special social and political education will be the next phase in the development of a complete system of national education. This, we hope, will come too. In the meantime, look on the various systems and theories, movements and adaptations, that we have noticed in the history of education; not as disconnected individual efforts, having no aim, but the continuation of one plan, with a directing purpose—the good of the world. Never lose faith in the power of education to raise man’s social position, and to improve his physical, moral, and intellectual powers. The president was heartily applauded on finishing, and on the motion of Mr Dunbar a vote of thanks was accorded the president for his weighty and thoughtful paper.

* teachers’ influence on public health was the subject of a paper read by Dr Ogston as follows : I had in view the width of the ground it would allow me to cover, and I now intend to take full advantage of that latitude. Iu place of a narrow technical dissertation upon such subjects as lighting, ventilation, warming, seating, etc., of schools, I shall try, by elaborating a few thoughts which from time to time have passel through my mind during the fourteen or fifteen jears I have been studying with and teaching young men, to engage your attention for a time, especially as they will come in happy sequence to some of your president’s remarks. Jt must strike every teacher that parents do not duly consider how much he has to do iu the moral and physical as well as the mental training of the children they entrust to his care ; nor how much the after-life of their boys and girls is successful and prosperous, thanks to the moral influence of a conscientious teacher—an influence frequently marred by the way they give in to and indulge the whims, and perhaps vicious, or merely indolent, dispositions of their offspring. Thus the first requisite of the schoolroom is prompt and unquestioning obedience. How often in his home Is the child allowed, either openly or covertly, to disobey his parents ? I shall deal shortly with the moral, physical, and mental influence of the teacher upon the public health. Let me, then, in the first place, consider the moral influence of the teacher as it stands in relation to the public health of a community. In a recently published book called ‘The N e W Antigone,’ full of quaint and frequently absurd fancies, but which, ■ like most satires on the thoughts and movements of the generation for whom it is written, contains a certain amount of instruction, occurs the following description of an English public school; “An unreal, fantastic world, wilder than many dreams. Here were 500 boys trained to bp the glares of an institution, and to believe in worn-out lies ; not that their minds received any training—it was only their charaoters that were moulded on a certain plan. 1 saw no one with a love for learning; enthusiasm was not scorned, for it did not exist within the school precincts. Masters and boys were immersed in routine, and they had but one standard, of vague outline, but exceedingly definite in practice—they all aimed at being English gentlemen. This did not keep the boys from schoolboy sins. They lied to their masters, and sometimes, though seldom, to one another. They were cruel, selfish, apd spjteful; they believed in no religion, and they had little morality. They did not read; they could talk only of trivial subjects; they knew nothing of the great causes about which men were contending; they had never been thrown upon the current of life ; their very sins against the moral law bad less in them . of the hqrpajj being than of the unreasoning, animal, "which juTflie its desires and has never heard' of a' law. Here I fognd a| little reverenqe as enthusiasm. A teacher that ehoulfi apeajk of fiighyr things than grammar would Ijaye been laughed at; nor do I remember op any pne flpuntenanpe a look, to which in my other life I had peep accustomed, manifesting the presence of .the

highest aspirations. It is a look impossible to mistake. Its absence made these men commonplace and the life around them dreary. I could go to none of them for comfort they did not invite me to do so; they were peremptory and distant in their relations with the boys, and I should as soon have thought of opening my troubles to the stone lions that ramped above the main entrance as to those frigid pedants, whose souls were in the routine of their schools and their domestic concerns. They remained no less strange to me when I had lived my four years under them than at the beginning. They were not cruel, but indifferent; not unlearned, but blind to the meaning of their books, because so little acquainted with life ; not inhuman, but quite ignorant of the depth and scope of the word humanity.” Such a picture, black though it looks, was, we have reason to believe, not an untrue one. Perhaps it refers to one of the chief English schools—Rugby—before the advent of the great and good Dr Arnold, who, by the gentleness, Christ-likeness of his manners—by moral influence worked a change upon the whole school system of England. *Vas not his an illustration of the moral influence of the teacher on the public health in its fullest sense ? But can we, as teachers, in the present days, when hurry and cram prevail, when the dullest and stupidest child has to be stuffed with the minimum of learning which shall enable him to squeeze through his standards and examinations—can we be expected to find time to exercise this moral hygiene ? I think we can, if we keep in view the fact that we have to train those who shall be our future masters ; and remember, that if we can attract the sympathies of those we have to instruct we may make them work with us, and induce them to study to gain our esteem and approbation—not merely the necessary pass. I well remember the moral influence an old teacher of mine exercised upon a class of seventy boys at the old Grammar School of Aberdeen, In class hours you might have heard a pin drop ; we did not even dare to exchange a whisper, certain that his eye would be upon us at the instant. And yet he was one of the gentlest of men, who, upon the single occasion that he had to flog a boy for stealing, was affected to tears at the thought of the punishment he had so unwillingly to inflict. And though by the School Board (which came into being long after I left him) he was regarded as an inefficient teacher, he is still fondly treasured in the memory of his old pupils, to many of whom he proudly refers as high up in the world of science and commerce. His power lay in moral not physical influence, and was mighty in the cultivation of a healthy tone of thought in those of the public who left his hands, trained, not merely in the discipline of letters, but in that of mental and moral culture. It is in this direction that the true teacher can influence the rising generation, if he have real sympathyfellow suffering, as I may paraphrase it — with his pupils, leading them through the thorny brakes of learning by the hand, not driving them with the whip. In my own experience as a teacher, which dates back to 1873, I have always found that when boys were inclined to be inattentive or unruly I was speaking either without thorough knowledge of my subject or in a careless manner, and that when I knew well what I was lecturing about I could always command close and continued attention. Now children are acute and accurate observers, who, if a teacher has faults, will soon detect them—and, what is worse for them and for us, learn to imitate them. The rule holds good in a minor sense. The children of thieves and drunkards are most likely to turn out criminals and sots when they grow up, and that not only from inherited weakness of brain and will, but also, and probably, chiefly from the force of bad example; so the pupils of those who go through the grind of daily instruction in the easiest manner to themselves, with a view only to save their reports as average teachers, will, when they come to the business of life as workers, perform their daily tasks in such a manner as shall give them the least trouble. I cannot dwell longer upon this aspect of my subject, but trust I have made clear what I meant when I referred at the commencement to the moral influence of the teacher upon the public health. The maintenance of all law and order in the State depends upon the opinion of the majority; and unless in youth the mind is trained, not merely by precept hut also by example, in habits of diligence and honor, and to take a pride in doing whatever the hand findeth to do with all our might, the healthy tone of public society will sink. To us, as teachers, is confided this responsible and precious duty of training the minds of the rising generation, so that they shall maintain the moral publio health of the succeeding decades. Shall we refuse or neglect this task ? I have now in the second place to consider the physical influence of the teacher on the public health; and I may still pass over the general and special details of school oonstruction, as these in Otago have had ample attention paid to them. In my remarks in this connection I may again be accused of laying new burdens on shoulders already well laden ; but I think that the accusation will be found to be groundless. In all properly planned schemes for the education of youth, physi cal training should take at least a good second place in the curriculum. This has been well recognised in this part of the world, for one finds attached to all our schools playgrounds of good dimensions, fitted up with tennis and racket courts, as well as gymnastic apparatus. But though Education Boards and Committees may provide all these—like the proverbial horse, which one man may lead to the water though forty men cannot make him drink—still, they are not systematically used as part of the routine of education—drill, a very elementary department of physical training, being the only part of it apparently practised day by day in all or most of onr schools. Now, the training of the body is a means, and a most important one, not only of training the mental powers, but also of teaching youths that steady, combined, systematic effort is necessary for success, and that if they follow the advice and profit by the experience of their instructors they will the more quickly achieve what they attempt. I do not mean to insist that every teacher should be a thoroughly trained gymnast, though it is self-evident that the corpus sanum is the fitting envelope for ■ the mens sana —essential to the man or woman who aspires to teaching; still, it is equally evident that the relaxation which may be derived from half-an-hour spent in a game at tennis, rackets, or in simple gymnastics at some period of the school day would freshen up the vital and mental powers of master and scholar. The temporary association in a common pastime —when, perhaps, the scholar is for a time turned into the teacher —would tend to break up the feeling of antagonism which has from the remotest antiquity prevailed between master (tyrannus) and pupil. In the higher schools of Germany—upon which ours are in grpat pleasure pow modelled —master and pupil often meet to have a bout of fencing or a turn at gymnastics. And in such accomplishments as swimming, and such games as cricket and football, it is a usual sight in the higher English schools to see the master take the water at the head of his flock or handle the willow or the leather with his scholars, instructing them, both by precept and example, in these essentially manly and healthful accomplishments influencing them physically in what promotes the health of their bodies, and morally in checking by his presence the tendency, so ipherent in boys, to bullying and roughness, and to the use of bad or foul language, which perhaps the example of their homes has taught them to think manly. The discipline of mind and of body which they are thus taught to be essential ,tp sucpess in games, where perfection depends on the subordination of tho individual will and strength to the combined effort and power of the whole, is again an important factor in building up habits of mutual interdependence, which, as In the case of an army of soldiers, makes a State mighty by its unity in the maintenance of its power when it combs into contest with other States divided by race Ijatfeds—Bfjssia, for example—or with 'savage races, eacp individual of whppe armies fights' for his own pand th gain personal reuqwn. It was when Rometorgot to keep up the physical training of her sons that thjs infiuepqg of Jiof governors cepged,

and she sank under the sway of the Goths and other barbarians, who had been trained by necessity into habits of strict discipline. The physical influence of the teacher is thus brought prominently forward as necessary to the maintenance of the common weal—a word which is synonymous with public health. Another mode in which the teacher’s influence may come into play is suggested by the recommendation lately promulgated by the Education Board of this province with regard to the seemly tendance which it is desirable should be paid to the gardens attached to teachers’ residences. It is notorious that the youth of the present day is somewhat addicted to what may be described as the habit of loafing—or, despising manual labor, turning his attention to pastimes of doubtful utility—which may in their turn lead to those of questionable morality. I refer to that specially of young men and maidens spending their evenings in halls, often close and illventilated, and essentially dusty, in that stupid and hygienically mistaken pastime—rinking. Were they encouraged by the example of the teacher to pass the summer evenings in the open air, either in assisting him m cultivating his schoolhouse garden, or in tending that, as a rule, attached to their own homes, he would foster a love for flowers which in time would bring the desire to study their varieties, nature, and habitat; and that again* would perhaps engender a love for the country, its life and pursuits, inducing them to leave the crowded towns and fly to the country, there to unearth the riches so lavishly bestowed on this favored land—there to propagate a healthy and strong race of agriculturists who should cause New Zealand again to flourish. In such a prospect the physical influence of the teacher on the public health is especially manifest. . To the third aspect of the teacher’s influence on the public health—the mental aspect—l fear I have left myself little time for consideration ; but it is so patent that it really requires few words to recommend it. It is evident to everyone that the habit of healthy reading, engendered by an attractive method of teaching, is one of the greatest triumphs which a schoolmaster can achieve; and happy is the man who awakens the intellect in a human sonl. The habit of healthy reading leads to that of healthy thinking ; and the well trained man or woman is necessarily the ruler of the circle in which he or she moves. In the domestic circle an intelligent wife is always the best housekeeper and companion to her husband; for her mind, trained in the paths of healthy literature, will not despise as trivial the petty round of domestic duties, while she may the better assist him in the details of business with advice, all the more shrewd that her instinctive dictates of honesty are not trammelled by the petty trickery which the prevailing system of commerce frequently involves. She must also, of necessity, be all the more fitted for this that a love of healthy reading has been early fostered in her mind by a good teacher—she must be the fitter, I say, to rear up her children, and to encourage in them a love of letters which shall train them to be good mothers and fathers in their turn. The man, again, whose mind is well balanced, and whose intellect is well matured by the love of study—inculcated by a good teacher—is the true ruler of his household, the stay and protector of the weaker vessel, an example for his sors to imitate when they undertake the management of their own homes, or perhaps of the State. To the teacher may be thus due the promotion and maintenance of the moral, mental, and physical health of the State.

Mr Barnett moved and Mr M'Niccol seconded a vote of thanks to Dr Ogston for his paper, which was carried by acclamation.

Mr White, in conveying the vote, said that he did not agree with the Doctor on one point, and that was that to his (the speaker’s) mind physical education should be placed first instead of mental education. The Doctor bad 1 said that when boys were inclined to be unruly he had found that he, as their teacher, had been speaking without a thorough knowledge of his subject, or if might be in a careless manner, and as boys were keen observers the Doctor had blamed the teacher, fle (the speaker) could tell the doctor that they never did that in public schools here, they always blamed the scholar.—(Laughter.) The habit of healthy reading, especially in the mother tongue, was, in the opinion of the speaker, a good thing. Dr Ogston briefly returned thanks. The Institute resumed their sittings this morning. The nomination of candidates to the Council of the New Zealand Educational Institute, to be held in Wellington at the commencement of next year, was adjourned until Thursday morning. The President gave an account of the doings of the delegates at Nelson last year. The Conference was a large one, and the business of more than usual interest. In regard to the establishment of a pension fund the delegates had arrived at the conclusion that the time was not yet ripe for such a fund. The great question, however, was the retrenchment proposals of the Government. The Council had agreed to wait upon the Minister of Education; but, in reply to a telegram, the Minister said he could not meet the Council, as be bad to go South on urgent business. It was afterwards announced in the daily papers that the “ urgent business ” was a holiday trip which he took after his arduous duties. He (the president) thought it would have been a graceful act on the part of the Minister to have met the Council.— (Applause.) In regard to the syllabus he (the speaker) thought thatit was too diverse. From personal experience, and from seeing others at the work, he had come to the c nclusion that there was far too much work to be done. He expressed admiration at the amount of work done in the smaller schools. The teachers of the South Island, however, could never convince those of the North of the difficulty of the syllabus. Very much depended upon the interpretation of the syllabus. The syllabus which had commended itself to them had been drawn up by experts; but, as they knew, almost every code was the work of a theorist. The syllabus had been the result of long consultations. It had been discussed at every meeting during the year —in fact it had been discussed for five successive years. He intimated that, had it not been for the persistence of Mr M'Niccol, the syllabus would not have been passed. [Mr M'Niccol t And of yourself.] No one would second his (Mr White’s) proposals except Mr M'Niccol, and had he not stuck well to him the Institute would not have had the syllabus. The President referred to other matters, as secondary schools,' certificated teachers, degrees, etc., which the Council had considered.

During the morning Dr Stenhouse read an interesting paper entitled ‘ Woman’s position in tfre social system.’ Mr NplM-i in proposing a vote of thanks to Dr Stenhouse, complimented him upon his able papen The secret of the stoppage of larrikicism he (the speaker) thought lay in the education of their homes. He had opportunities in the country districts of seeing -what he advocated. He had seen young men allowed out of an evening, and they spent their time in sitting upon fences and smoking. Such a class growing up amongst us was greatly to be deprecated. ■ nblio attention should be drawn to this question. Mr Barnett admitted that there was a small amount of larrikinism in the schoolboy here, but that was to be expected. As to which was the apter scholar, he would say from experience that girls could no doubt imitate, but when it came to sheer hard study boys always proved superior to girls. The speaker was often pained to see girls and boys sent out at so early an age to work. The difficulty was how to prevent women following employment unsuitable to them. He praised the Doctor for speaking right out.—(Applause.)

■ Mr White considered that woman intellectually was quite equal to man.—(Applause.) He had found this to be the-case both in primary'and secondary schools, -and also at the University, He was glad to hear Dr Stenhouse stand, out. as the woman’s advocate. He did hot Wish to see woman doing certain' wiflrk when she was better fitted for better employment.—(Applause.) The great ideal wag the emancipation of

woman from the drudgery of her usual work.

Mr Rennie thought the previous speakers had wandered away from the main points of the paper. As far as he was concerned, he could testify to the abilities of the ladies. If Mr Barnett had competed with them as he (the speaker) had done be would have had perhaps a higher opinion of them. He did not know whether Mr Barrett was a married man or not.—(Laughter). Mr Barnett : Oh yes, he is, and got a son.—(Laughter). Mr Rennie thought that the question wanted thrashing out. The right canse must be found before they sought a remedy, Mr Fitzgerald considered that too much had been made of “ woman as an ornament to our homes.” He advocated all boys and girls being brought up in a more useful and less ornamental way. There were many positions in industrial life that our girls could fill. In onr schools women did excellent work—(applause)—they were second to none. There were women adapted for Dr Stenhonse’s profession—(laughter)— by their knowledge of their own sex, and by their care and kindness to children. Many women had shown both brain and nervons power to discharge a physician’s duties. The proper place for the wife or mother was at home, but still it was well that the mother should be able to support herself. Messrs Dunbar, Duncan, and John Reid also criticised the paper, after which Dr Stenhouse replied.