The Fielding Star. Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1907. Education Board Jottings.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 294, 18 June 1907, Page 2

The Fielding Star. Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1907. Education Board Jottings.

Education Board meeting last night, j Miss Lynch, of balcouibo, is the only applicant for the assistantship at Newbury, Rangitikei Line. ; Glenoroua Committee desire a male teacher for head of their school, and the Board acquiesced. Empire Day will no longer be a holiday, but a day for sj>ecial lessons on the lines adopted by Mr Adams at Foxton. At last the Education Department has granted £550 for a school at Himatangi, and £110 for additions to the Taikorea school. Mrs Williams, who is leaving Glenoioua School to take charge of Mokoia, to enable her children to obtain greater educational advantages, is one of the best teachers in the Board s employ. Only lately she was taking steps to commence rchool gardening at' Glenoroua, an innovation it is hoped the new teacher will appreciate. Technical education is still booming in the Wanganui Education District. The supervisor of the northern division, Mr Hintz, reports that 517 pupils are attending the classes m his district. Mr Amos, the supervisor for the southern district, reports 340 pupils attending. Mr Varney, sujervisor of the central district, reports an attendance of 1100. The Instructor in Agriculture (Mr Grant), in the course of his report says: — During^ this week I have been packing seeds Tor the various schools. These are a first instalment. Other seeds, fertilisers, and chemicals, have yet to be sent. The class at Manaia continues to be well attended— the students work well, and I am hopeful that a number of them will make some definite field experiments this year. Leave of absence is frequently asked for by teachers, and at times there appears to be some difficulty on the part of medical men in describing the particular ailment his patient is suffering from. This was apparently the case at the Board meeting last r.ight, when a doctor backed up an application 1 for leave of absence by giving the reason as " loss of voice." Needless to say, the teacher belonged •to the gontler sex ! The following is the programme for the Winter School, to be held at Wanganui next week : —Preparatory work, Miss Alexander; Nature study and number work (St. 1), Miss Thomson; Handwork, Mr Clark; Natiyre study, Mr Browne; Physical Training, Mr Jarrett, section A. ; Laboratory Practice, Mr Grant; section 8., Field Design, Mr Varney; section 8., Laboratory Practice, Mr Grant; section A., Geology of the West Coast, Mr Browne. It is proposed to offer a two years' scholarship of £20 a year in memory of the late Samuel Gibbons, Mr 8. J. Gibbons, of Marton, providing the I wads. Thj Chief inspector bus drawn up conditions lor the scholarship, which contain one novel feature, viz., a practical qualification, ihe conditions are as follows — I. lv the mouth of .December, tiio Board will offer for competition to pupils attending any of its schools situated, in the ltaffig&ikei County a Gibbons .Scholarship of the annual value ol x^O, tenable for two years; 2. Candidates niU3t (a) Obtain at least 75 per cent, of marks at the proficiency examination; (b) Pass an easy practical ■examination in Nature Study and School Horticulture ; (c) Pass also an easy written examination in the same subjects; and (d) Must not be over 14 years of age on the first day of the month in which the examination is held; 3. The scholarship shall not be tenable with any other scholarship; 4. Candidate may, subject to the consent of the Board, attend any* secondary or District High School in the 'Wanganui Education District, or seme other such school as may be approved by the Board. Dairying instruction is growing apace in the northern part of tltis education district. Mr It. Browne, Ihe instructor, reports that his classes are drawing to a close, and that the success met with has been very gratifying. "This month," he says, "the work undertaken has . consisted of smear examination under the microsec pc to show commoner fcim.s vi germ life. Experiments were carried out by the children, with a view to show milk contamination by leaving samples in school and byre. Examinations of 'starter," uliicJi tho children obtained from the various local factories, gave general satisfaction, as evidenced by the smiles of those viewing them for the first time. The boys like something 'solid' in the bacteria line, as also do bigger biys. A factory manager, to whom I showed a smoar, giving abundance of ordinary lactic acid bacilli, was quite disappointfd. Having been told that the magnification was to be 760 diameters, he expected to see something htige, and tho numbers present could not make up for their microscopic size. Some interesting work has been done in evaporating milk, to show percentage of milk solids and of water. > The large amount of accurate weighing to be done, and the calculations involved, simple though they be, give an amount of concrete work that is certain to be of value in connection with. .other school work. The mechanics among the boys have scope for their talents in designing ana setting up water baths, etc."