TUESDAY, JUNE 9. "CONTINUATION CLASSES." The Star.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 808, 9 June 1903, Page 2

TUESDAY, JUNE 9. " CONTINUATION CLASSES."

The Star.

be possible, in order that young men and young women Bbould be put in the way of becoming deft and efficient workers. The Act of 1900 offered inducements to Education Boards and School Committees to take the matter up, and gave concessions which enabled them in turn to facilitate special study by all who evinced any desire to undertake it. The idea was that those in attendance at the schools, either primary or secondary, should be led to take an interest in manual and technical work as part of their ordinary school course, and that there should be special arrangements for the benefit of those who bad left school, and had commenced their life work in trades or other occupation. For Jthe benefit of these were established what are termed " continuation classes," an expression which ia defined as meaning " a class commencing not earlier than four o'clock in the afternoon, and giving instruction in euch of the ordinary public school subjfets or other subjects of general or commercial education as are prescribed by regulations." The regulations eet out a long list of subjects for teaching of which local authorities may make arrangements. This starts with all subjects of the public school syllabus for Standards V. and Vl., ' and goes on also to mention advanced English, various foreign language?, mathematics, more or less advanced, and various ether subjects already taught j during ordinary hours at the Hawera I District High School. It further mdi I cates mensuration (as for builders arjd surveyors), book keeping, precis writing, , shorthand, type writing, for which J special arrangements would have to bo made. The manual and technical 9ide of the syllabus includes all kinds of preliminary work in wood and metals. In some parts of the colouy notably in the cities, advantage has been taken to a considerable extent of the provisions we are describing, and indeed there are cases, we understand, in which masters insist on their apprentices attending th^se classes. Now, in Hawera, we have a very fine building, a pertain amoxint of plant, and good teoching power is available, and tho School Committee nre anxious that the young people of this town and district shouM, as far as may be practicable, enjoy the advantages which their fellows in larger towns haye shown an anxiety to ranke use of. They desire to enlisr the interest and sympathy of people in trades and business, and above all to see if Borne of the many young men about will not endeavour to improve themselves. " Time is money," " knowledge is power," nnd other proverbs may be cited, but nowadays it is not necessary to argue that the young fellow who employs his spare time to the best advnntage is likely to make the best of life. Tiie question is how many are there prepaied to sacrifice present ease for the sake of helping themselves in their future. On the answer to this question depends the success or the . failure of the effort which the School Committee is malting.

Delivered every t>vouiu£ by 6 o'clock iv Hawora Mannw, Normniiby, Okaiawa, El t hum, JVlnn^atoki, Knponga, Awatuua, Opuimke, Otakeho, Munutalij, Alton, Hurlcyville, Patca, aud Waverley.

We direct attention to the meeting to be held this evening for the purpose of considering the question of establishing continuafcion classes in connection with the Hawera District High School. It may be explained that some two or three years ago the Government decided to encourage the cause of technical education, and in 1900 passed an Act which set out as its object the making of better provision for manual technical and commercial 'education. It was' realised that if the people of New Zealand were to keep pace with the peoples of other lands, if young New Zealanders when they wont abroad were to be capable of competing with those whom they met in trade and business rivalry, they must, as far as possible, have the same advantages io early training. It wa3 Been that in the modern development of education it was deemed insufficient that pupils at the schools or young persons who had to leave school at an early age should n),erely go through the course which is popularly known as •• the three R's "—that it was necessary, or at least desirable, that hand and eye should be trained as far as might