NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9803, 25 April 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The proposal to establish a technical school in Auckland has at last assumed a practical shape, and we may reasonably expect to see such a school in full working order within a very short time. One of the chief defects of our present system of public education is that it makes no pro. vision for teaching trades or occupations. The children who attend the public schools are given a fair smattering of book knowledge, and are taught how to read and spell and work sums, and the rules of grammar and something of geography and history, but they leave school with little or no preparation for engaging in the practical pursuits of life. Compared with European nation?, with the Belgians, French, and Germans for example, tho English are badly provided with the means of obtaining technical instruction, although very rapid strides have been made in this direction during the last decade.

The Industrial Institute at Lille is divided into three distinct divisions, namely, the industrial, the agricultural, and the commercial schools. The obJ6cb of the former is to train the heads of establishments, and the directors or foremen of workshops, for the principal industries of the district; that of the agricultural school is to give to the sons of proprietors and farmers the scientific knowledge necessary to apply to agriculture the most approved methods; the commercial school is designed to train merchants, bankers, and the higher employees in the great com. mercial houses and financial establishments. The Institute has a staff of over thirty professors, besides foremen for the spinning, weaving, and dyeing, and for the joiners' and mechanics' shops. The latter are the most remarkable part of the Institute. Those for mechanics, blacksmiths, and joiners are fitted up with every requisite, and contain lathes, planes, etc., driven by an engine of 20-horse power. The dyeing department is also elaborately fitted up with hob and cold water, steam, dyeing troughs, furnace, drying machine, etc. Then there is extensive machinery for spinning and weaving. The intention of the Council of Administration is that every student shall become thoroughly familial with both the theory and the practic« of that which he professes to learn, and that on leaving the Institute, he may be able to take his place as manager or master in any industrial establishment. ' The "Professional School" at Reims is also a wellknown institution. In is intended for boys from 13 to 15 years of age, who have attended the public schools of the town and district. There are similar schools all over the country.

Bub it is in Germany that technical education has been most fully developed. In addition to what corresponds with our grammar or higher schools, every town hasitsGewerbe Schule or Trade School while in Berlin there is a Gewerbe Akademie or trade university with over a hundred free scholarships open to be competed for by the students ot theGewerbe Schulen. In the latter the subjects taught extend over a wide range, including languages, accountantship, geometry, land surveying, mechanics, building, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, etc. The system of technical education iu Germany is nob, however, confined to th« Gewerbe Schulen. For each of the most ini portant industries there are special technical schools. The chief of these are for farming, gardening, forestry, mining, building, and weaving. In nearly every case these schools have been founded by the Government and the municipal or other local authorities of the town in which they ar situated. Sometimes the manufacturers of the town have been the originators of the school.

These facilities for acquiring technical knowledge are not confined to boys only. There are schools in most of the chief towns of Germany where girls are given a commercial and industrial education, so as to enable them to occupy situations in offices and counting-houses, as well as qualifying them to be designers in porcelain and textile manufactories. The usual branches of dressmaking and fancy work are also taught. The professional school for girls in Brussels is an example of what may be accomplished by a few publicspirited persons. It was started by two or three citizens, who appealed to the public for help. In a short time the number of subscribers reached one hundred and thirty-four, the majority of whom promised subscriptions of at least 36 francs a year that sum being at first fixed as the school fee. The Municipal Council premised an annual subscription of 3600 francs, obtaining thereby the right to send 100 girls to the school as free scholars. With this income the school was opened, and 60 girls were enrolled. The school has proved a greab success, and has now an attendance of several hundred. The students are taught book-keeping, industrial designing, chiefly such as is applicable to millinery and dressmaking, and the manufacture of porcelain ; painting on porcelain, dressmaking, cutting out and the getting up of linen; the manufacture of artificial flowers, painting on fans and various stuffs. etc. The method of examination in dress making, for instance, is this: A certain amount of material is given to a girl, which she has to ■ make into a dress and fib on to a lay figure. In judging her work, the taste displayed and the exactness of the fit, etc., are taken into account. .-'■ As might be expected, the girls and young women, wtfeo,

they leave the school, easily obtain lucrative employment in whatever business they have been trained to follow. In some of the girls' schools in Germany telegraphy is amongst the subjects taught.

The Auckland Tocbnical School will probably be many years before it approaches within a measurable distance of comparison with the continental schools, bub ib is a step in the right direction and deserving of every encouragement. We hope that the public will take a lively interest in its welfare, and render it all the assistance in their power. We see no reason why, with good management, the school should nob become exceedingly popular with our young people. At all events, of this there can be no doubt whatever, if we are not to be left hopelessly behind in the industrial race, which is becoming keener and more strenuous every day, ib is imperatively necessary that our young men should be afforded an opportunity of acquiring technical instruction in those industries, agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing, npon which the progress and prosperity of Now Zealand so largely depend. It is nob yet known what position the British Government will tako up in repaid to the treaty between Japan and China. The French press betrays anxiety lest England should hold aloof from the concerted action taken by Franco, Russia, and Germany. The situation is undoubtedly a very grave one, for upon the decision of the British Cabinet may depend issues of tho most serious nature. Ib has transpired that Chitral was relieved by the Khan of Dir. No reply has been received from Umra Khan to the terms of peace submitted by the British authorities. Ib is under' stood the British troops will withdrav from the country after peace is cor eluded. The Grand Jury have returned* true bill against Oscar Wilde and Tayh". An agitation is on foob in Cyprus to h?e the island transferred to Greece, 'he Orient Company's steamer Oroya, w'ich went on the rocks at Naples, has /een floated off. Arrangements have oeen made for steamers engaged in th< frozen meat trade of Australia and New Zealand calling at the port of Manchester, where extensive cool chambers ha« been erected. President Cleveland has lecided to stand for another term of offio. The 'busmen out on strike in Paris are esorting to violence. Three British warsiips have been despatched to Nicaragua tonforcethe ultimatum.