NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12244, 7 January 1902, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

(Fnoit Oni: Own Correspondent.) NEW PLYMOUTH, January 6. At tho meeting of the Now Zealand Educational Institute today tho report dealing with tho provident fund was adopted, and Mr W. G. Murray appointed secretary and treasurer of tho fund. Tho council endorsed tho Inspector-gene-ral's scheme [or extendiug the advantages of high fchool education to nupils pasping Standard VI in all subjects. There was groat diversity ol opinion as to what ago u child should enter upon a secondary school count) with a view of proceeding to the university. The general fooling wan that pupils should bo admitted nftor pawing Standard VI. The institute is of opinion that a revised nyllahus is urgently required, ami that in framing such assyllabus the special curcuinstances of different donee of fclioolk should bo provided for, and that a reduction should ■ bo .made in tho syjlabus in ordor that more time might be available for manual instruction. It wtii resolved that !he Olngo District Institute be invited to draft a superannuation scheme and luilrait tho same tn the executive, who, if they doomed it advisable, should circulate the scheme among all Now Zealand teachers, and then embody the most important suggestion in n report tc be submitted to the next council meeting. Messrs Jc-ffcry and Flamank were appointed lo draw up n record book for the futnro guidance of the couucil. The next m?ctinfr ii to bo held at Napier, at a tjmo to bo fixed by tho exeoutive. Special vote? of thanks were accorded to the Minister of Education for hit» courteous consideration of (lie recommendations of the irotiluto, and to Mr Hogbon for his untiring; efforts in tho interest of teachers. —In a tiny island called Minikoi, off the southern coast of India, a most, peculiar state- of Bociety esi«ts, for woman is lord gf all she surveys, The wife is tho recognised bead of the house. She owns it and everything in it, while anything that her husband, who works very hard, cun earn goes to increase her wealth. Her husband belongs to her, too, and when she marries him she gives him her name instead of taking his. — Mahogany-hunting is precarious work. In Central and South America tho "mahogany trees do not grow in groups; much less are there whole fojeste of them. They are scattered, usually concealed in thickets. It requires skill and experience to find them. To fell a tree involves tho worlo of two men for » whole day. On account of a thick thorny prrowth near the twee of tlm tree a scaffold is erected around it, and above- thin, at a height of from 10ft to 15ft, the troo is cut, so that the best part is really lost. The felled tree is then freed of branches and hauled on a rouqh wagp,on by oxen to the nearest- river, whore rafts are made and floated down. — Winds end tiilcs are often epoke-n of as possible arsenals of power and energy which tho ingenuity of man must some day rifle. The rainfall of the earth is a source of supply loss often considered. But the mean rainfall for the whole of the earth is 35in annually, and, taking 10ft aa the available height from which its fall could bo usefully transformed into work, we obtain 36,000,000.000 foot-tonn as tho annual work which is at present done by the rain falling on tho land for the earth. "An equally striking illustration ie the work done by a great river. The Mississippi, for inHancc achieves ?-50,000 horse-power per square mile of ite drainage; its flow is equal to 11 billion footpounds per annum. m lOs.-MARTIN'S CYCLES.-£U IC. Ladies' or Gents'; highest gnde and material; B.S.A. pirta, with up-to-tlnti improvements; box crown; detachable chain wheels; Weatwood'S steel rims; cold-drawn tubing; aaygesir or enamel; any shapsd handle-bar; all accessories; two years' guarantee. Catalogue free MARMN'S CYCLE FACTORY, 121-3 Manchester street, Christcamch.