SCHOOL TEXT BOOKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11334, 30 July 1897, Page 5

SCHOOL TEXT BOOKS.

’ The importance of the text-book question does not seem to have impressed itself to any great extent upon the mind of the colonial teacher, if we may judge by examples that occasionally come under our notice. It is always of the utmost moment that a child should be provided with books in which he will find a clear and accurate statement of facts, for it is too often the case that both teacher and child depend on the hook itself. We have recently seen a geography—a “New Geography,” compiled by Professor Meiklejofm and specially recommended to candidates for matriculation —in which every page devoted to the colonies is disfigured by misstatements and errors that even the average hoy is capable of correcting. Take, for* instance, the paragraphs dealing with West Australia. This colony obtained responsible government so long ago as 1890, and yet, we are told that its affairs are administered from the Colonial Office in London, and that it has no Parliament of its own. Then we are gravely informed that its population is only 50,000 and that it “has never thriven,” chiefly on account of “ the absence of mineral wealth! ” All this is had enough, but when we read that one of the “best things in West Australia” is Jts “ fine climate,” and one of the most prominent features of its forests the “ gigantic kauri ” trees, we begin to suspect that the author is burlesquing his subject. The rest of the Australian colonies are treated with the same airy disregard for truth. Victoria, whose inhabitants number a trifle of 120,000 .fewer than those of New South Wales, is described as “ the most populous” of the group, and the great bulk of. the roads in the; island continent are put down as “ mere .tracks through the bush.” The information concerning our own colony: is not one whit more accurate. Nelson, we are told, is one of the two chief ports of the South Island; Lyttelton is not even mentioned ; Wellington is credited with a population of 30,000, about 12,000 too small, and Auckland with one of 60,000, about 17,000 too large. Our annual “exports and imports to and from England ” are given as £5,000,000, while they really exceed £12,000,000, and the total value of our gold production is represented as £15,000,000, instead of £52,000,000. Finally, our population is understated by more than a hundred thousand. The first efforts of a child in geography should be directed towards gaining an accurate knowledge of his own country ; then he should he taught the main features of other countries, and it is not too much to expect that the hook from which he learns should have some pretensions to truth. There can he no possible excuse for the publication of such palpable mistakes as those we have mentioned—the “ new geography ” was issued only last year —and we strongly recommend parents to take an occasional glance at the text-books that are placed in the hands of their boys and girls. This precaution may save the children from a good deal of unnecessary humiliation when they come to apply their knowledge to the practical affairs of life.