LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 69, 22 March 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Captain Perano has left Auckland with the steamer Rob Roy for Picton. Messrs Perano Brothers have purchased the vessel, which is of 80 tons, with the object of placing her in either the Picton or Blenheim running with Wellington. ■ According""'to the:-' Minister's report for 1904, the income accrued under " The University Endowment Act, 1568," and applicable to purposes of higher education yet to be determined by Parliament, amounted to nearly £8000. Inspector Strachan asks: Could not some of this be used to provide scholarships for districts like ..Marlborough, away, from University centres? • / .* As there are Maories attending public schools'i« Marlborough, the following extract from the Minister's last report on Native schools-may be interesting :—"Maori children attending public schools who pass the fifth standard before reaching the age of fifteen years may obtain allowances of £20 a year to enable them to attend a secondary school or to enter upon industrial pursuits." .

The steamer Waihi, which is reentering the Blenheim - Wellington trade, is expected to arrive here o;i Saturday, and is timed to make her first out-ward trip in her new service at 4 pirn:. of that clay. The vessel will bij berthed at the 'new wharf on the Opawa near the Nelson Street bridge, gjio is commanded by Captain Backstsoni, "Jate-of the. Wainui, who has boeji ok tl}& . river, for the last fortnight, and Js fully acquainted with its course. The Waity's operations will be confined to cargo; she- Will not carry passengers, Mr T. Orr Ig the Blenheim agent.

Tho Farmers 'Distributing Co., Wellington, report that supplies of potatoes are short at the present time, and prices range from £9 to £10, the latter price- being for.TTp-to-Dates, which are fast becoming the most popular potato in tho AVollington market. The annual meeting of the Blenheim Choral Society will be held early next montji, with tho view of getting an early start with the rehearsal of a suitable cantata. J,t is hoped that two ohorai work.1/ will be produced this BSasofc/'" '■ '

The following will represent the Sed!on C.C. in the match to be played t Blenheim on Saturday next: —

O'Dwyor (2), Fuller (2), Humphreys (2), Atkinson, Blick, D. Fleming, Wold, Dr. Volckman; emergencies, A. France, A. Fleming.

Under tho heading of " Health and Moral Instruction," Inspector Strachan, M.A., says, in his annual report on the Marlborough schools: It would l)e well for the young teacher to read over every now and again the sections of tho syllabus under the above headings. This would keep the topics fresh in hi;-: memory, and he would be tho readier to seize upon and elaborate tho contingencies of school life. He would see the moral and health aspects of school happenings, of school construction and hygiene. It is the capping of incidents like this that comes home to the child and sends him away with a new thought to ponder. 1

noted only 13 schools where I could feel confident that any extended instiaction of this class had been attempted. This remark applies, however, only to the conscious reasoning on the above topics—that part of them which could be tested by questioning. In so far as moral teaching shows itself in the tone and atmosphere of the school there was little left to desire as the notes under tone and discipline indicate.

The Premier has spoken of further land endowments to education. There would probably be little dissatisfaction with an endowment in aid of free text-books. Increases in salary have lately been given to several branches of the public service. This would be a free gift to the people. In America it is by act mandatory in twelve States that books be provided free. Throughout the Union 92 cities of over 20,----000 inhabitants find it possible to provide free books. Philadelphia is a city of 1,293,697 people. It began to supply free books in all grades of the public schools in the year 1818. The total amount of land donated to the several States of the American Union for educational purposes since 1785 is ,78,659,----439 acres, which is more than the area of New Zealand. Dr Harris gives^ the American view of this matter: —"We are making the experiment of self-go-vernment, government of the people by the people, and it has seemed a logical conclusion to all nations or all times that the rulers of the people should have the best education available. Then it follows that the entire people of a democracy should be ediicated, for they are the rulers.' The argument loses nothing of its force by being transplanted to New Zealand.— School Inspector Strachan's annual report. The tone and discipline of the Marlborough schools in 1905 was generally high, says Inspector Strachan in his annual report. Twenty-four schools were accounted excellent and only tour unsatisfactory- The effect of the schools in raising the tone of the people is summed up by Dr Harris from statistics for, the United States. The illiterate class sent eight times its quota to. gaols and two and a halt , times its quota to prisons and penitentiaries, as compared with the literate (those able to read ; and write).

Archdeacon Cole, of St. Mary s Church, New Plymouth, in a recent address, said:—"The children, .of .the South Sea Islands are better off spiritually than the people of your backblocks, twenty, thirty and forty miles away from New Plymouth. The spiritual condition of these back-block inhabitants is very bad indeed. . And people have a love for the brown heathen, and will contribute willingly to funds for their spiritual amelioration, but, strangely enough, the same people will not give a penny towards the uplifting of their own kith and km in the back-blocks of Taranaki."

The number of schools in Marlborough in which singing was taught advanced from 21 in 1904 to 39 last year. Dealing with this subject in his annual report, Inspector Strachan says: "At the winter school opportunity was taken to show the younger members of the staff how'to teach the elements of the sol-fa system. Mr D. A. Sturrock was very successful with the subject entrusted to him. Modern science never despairs of any organ ot the body. If it be made to function, power will increase. The pupil must be taught to use an observing _ mind behind his ear, and his larnyx will develop flexibility by use. Such thoughts may lend a hope to. teachers who are beginning to plough hitherto unfurrowed soil and think the work hard and hopeless. There is room for a more extended course of deep-breath-ing exercises as part of the drill and of singing. It is said that the Japanese, in their athletic training, make much of deep-breathing. St. Joseph's (upper division), Waitohi, Blenheim Boys' (upper division), Blenheim Girls', and Springlands showed the best signs of training. The modern educationist believes in making the pupil on all sides susceptible to the influence of his environment. One faculty sometimes begins to operate through activity in other faculties. The region of song presents a large field of peculiar experience:' Tones are of all kinds, solemn,' joyous, ' lively, sad, contemplative, discordant—.suggestive of bitterness and hate, —harmonious and sweet—suggestive of love and agreement. 3 If one is rendered consciously susceptible to such feelings there cannot fail to be a good reaction in the other mental tracts. I hope, therefore, to see the progress made in the teaching of sieging continued and extended."

The latest sensation in Blenheim is the new autumn and winter wearing apparel which Messrs Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd., are now showing at their agency, High Street. The goods include new jackets, new costumes, new blouses, in fact everything new. We have issued books of styles, which are now ready and may be obtained on application to our representative. *

GEOGRAPHY IN MARLBORO UGH

SCHOOLS

In his annual report, Inspector Strachan, M.A.» refers to the need of a good handbook on geography in the schools of Marlborough. He writes: " Many of the schools used volumes selected from 'The World and its People,' and by some teachers these appear to have been used with judgment—only the valuable parts being emphasised. Other teachers attempted the memorising plan on the large volume adopted, the result being ill both in regard to geography course b and'to the reading. The report of the Council of Fifteen in the United States refers to the old geography as sailor • geography—a minute description of the coasts of land, its capes, bays, islands, and gulfs. Much of that information is absolutely useless. Therefore a new school arose who taught what may be called encyclopaedic geography. This consisted of heterogeneous scraps of information culled from every land from Tashkend to Titicaca; such information might sometimes be interesting, but much of it was useless —dealing with facts that were never likely to benefit the child and served only to load his memory and undermine his health. The new , idea of. geography has grown irom the ruins of the above. It.is to some extent still encyclopaedic, but at the same time selective—choosing only such topics as may havo a bearing on the child's future, e.g., San Francisco is distant from us, but is important in connection with the transniission of our mails: Singapore has importance for us as the converging point of trade routes from New Zealand and a new centre for its defence. The state of the London wool market is immensely interesting for New Zealand. On the other hand, the lakes of Scotland and the names of the rivers of Siberia have only a remote and contingent importance—an interest that may be met by incidental mention before the map when occasion requires. Geography course A is intended to be a reasoning on the geographical phenomena observed in the neighbourhood of the school. It is eminently meant to be taken at first hand and not by medium of the book, although a book may be a useful source of suggestion for- the teacher, e.g., the question 'What is meant by " noon " ' may be best explained by observation and experiment with a shadow post. One child's answer was: 'It means that it h dinner time.-' Weather-charts are in use in a number of the sphools and connected with them were flower-calendars, notes on the phases of the moon, etc. The best attempts in this direction were observed at Grovetown and Waitaria, Mr Strong, of Wanganui, in his lectures at the winter school, gave many valuable suggestions for this part of the work."