EDUCATIONAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1248, 30 January 1896, Page 20

EDUCATIONAL.

The two St. Patrick's College scholarships, each of the annual value of 40 guineas and tenable for two years, have been secured this year by Albert Casey, of Wellington, and Arthur Lynch, of Reef ton. Master Casey, who is a son of Mr H. A. Casey, of Cuba street, was educated by the Marist Brothers at the Boulcott street school. • The last Ministerial act of the Hon W. P. Reeves prior to resigning his portfolios was to direct the Under-Secretary for Education (Kev W. J. Habens, M.A.,) to prepare and have printed for circulation a' paper on " Manual Instruction in Elementary Schools." This paper has just been issued from the press. It contains (1) the minute of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, sth August, 1890 ; (2) the programme of the City and Guilds of London Institute Examinations for teachers of manual training in public elementary schools ; and (3) illustration of the rapid development of manual instruction. This illustration is as follows : (a) The number of pupils receiving manual instruction in connection with primary schools in all Germany in 1880 was only 216. In 1888 the number was 4370 ; instruction being given to about 43 per cent, in pasteboard work, 32 per cent, in wood-carving, 31 per cent, in joinery, I'2 per cent, in metal work, and o*7 per cent, in modelling. Later statistics are not available. (b) In England a beginning was made about 1888. In 1895 the Liverpool School Board alone gave manual instruction to between f° ur and five thousand primary school boys. The minute of the Committee of Council on Education states, inter alia : —Before commencing to work with tools it will be found very useful to practice the children J in cutting out and putting together solid j models in cardboard or paper from planeprojections (known technically as nets ). All work with tools must, as stated in the minute, be from careful full-size drawings prepared by the scholar, the dimensions being taken off this drawing in the workshop. Ine tools required for the early stages of manual instruction in carpentry are the saw, the plane and the chisel. The construction and mode of use of these tools, the proper methods of sharpening them and of keeping them m °ood working order, should form the subjects for preliminary lessons. A great variety oi exercises may be arranged, suited to the strength and ability oi the scholar in the use of these tools, which will give an elementary knowledge of the principles of construction, and at the same time teach accuracy and carefulness. . . • • , The proper use of nails and screws should be explained and practised till a fair measure of accuracy has been attained. Twenty-nine applications were received by the Board of College Governors for the two positions at the Girls' High School-one at ISI2O per annum, and one at «£6O per annum—for which applications were invited oy the Board. The Board decided on Tuesday that Misß Fraser, who haß been an assistant at .the

Napier Girls' High School for the past five years, should fill the senior position. Misa Fraser was educated in London, and spent about eight years on the Continent. The selection of the junior teacher was post; poned. The Board of Governors Of the Wellington College and Girls' High School, met ori Tuesday morning; present—Messrs J. R: Blair (chairman), A i H. Miles, J. Ydiing, Sir J. Hector and Rev J. Paterson. The chairman stated that at the end oi December there was a credit balance, after paying the..accounts for the month, of «£431 6s 9d, and there were fees and rents due amounting to £2BO. The fees for the term to begin next Monday would amount to about «£I4OO. Against this there were liabilities, say, about £SO for accounts likely to come in and .£l6O expenses of drainage works to be carried out in accordance with the drainage scheme ; rates to the City Council, £200; and payment on account of playground, £IOO. After allowing for all this, there would be a credit balance of £I6OO to start the year, a most satisfactory position. So far the candidates nominated for the Vacancies on the Education Board, which occur in March, are as follow:—Messrs vV. W. McCardle, J. Robertson, F. H. Fraser, W. C. Buchanan and J. Vile. The latter's nomination, however, is informal, as only four members of the Pahiatua Committee were present at the meeting at which it was made. Nominations close on the 31st inst., and the election takes place on the last day in February.