HAWERA CITY FATHERS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 29 January 1909, Page 7

HAWERA CITY FATHERS

We lately published a part of the following article from the Feilding Star, but Cr Campbell has intimated that he would prefer it to be published in full, and we comply with his request :—: — It used to be the fashion of the ignorant to sneer at technical education, and we well remember a prominent Palmerstonian some years ago snorting at the idea, as he expressed it, of a school being set up "to teach him how to milk cows;" but we believed that that stage had been passed, especially by men intelligent enough to be elected to membership on local bodies. We were mistaken, however, if the Hawera Borough Council is to be taken as an example. A proposal was before that body the other evening to appoint a representative on the local technical school committee, as the Government are spending some £2000 in erecting and equipping a technical school in that borough, and the Council decided, with one dissentient, that "the Council be not represented, as there is nothing for this Council to represent." Of course, it would be absurd for an outsider to disagree with the Council's summing up of itself — "nothing"— only that it makes one wonder whether the councillors are diligent students of Omar Khayyam — "And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, , End in the Nothing all Things end in — ; YesThen fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be— Nothing — Thou shalt not be less." But, while we cannot quarrel with the resolution by which the Councillors dub themselves "nothing," some of the sentiments expressed at the meeting are worthy of extensive circulation, if it is only to show how golden silence would have been to the speakers. Cr Campbell (a man usually associated with common-sense) said he did not see the benefit of technical classes. He characterised the subjects taught — such as photography — as "hobbyhorses" indulged in by persons not entitled to any benefits of the technical scheme. "Schoolmasters and clergymen," he said, ."were learning photography at the country's expense. It was a nice thing to have a hobby; but something should be done for the boys and girls in the way of teaching the former their trade and the latter domestic economy. Making flowers and fancy pin plates was a nice accomplishment, but the pupils would not earn 2d a week by the things they were now taxight. THe teachers were not competent to teach the necessary subjects. There were men teaching plumbing, as an example, who knew nothing about it." The sapient councillor could have ascertained in five minutes that his conception of the work of a technical school was sadly mistaken, and that it would be ridiculous to attempt to teach a trade at a technical school. What is done there in that respect is to teach the scientific principles governing i trades and to give the apprentices instruction in their Higher branches which it would take very many years of practical work to obtain. The disparaging remark about plumbing, for instance, is particularly ill-timed, for if there is one trade which benefits by technical instruction more than an.other it certainly is plumbing, as can be seen by the exhibits at any technical school; and the recent examination by the Health Department's officer in Wanganui showed that general excellence had been obtained, one lad's theoretical and practical work being so good that he was awarded full marks throughout. In regard to girls, one of the leading features of technical schools is the instruction given in domestic economy, and even if woodcarving, repousse work, etc., are taught to girls, it will be found that the result is to add greatly to tLo dainty tome surroundings of the pupils iii question. The technical school in Hawera is certainly -not being erected before it is necessary, and the Mayor and most of the councillors should certainly enrol themselves as pupils." "