OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13589, 10 May 1906, Page 3

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, [Cciductsd by Maoisiii, to whom all cominum'cations must ba addressed.] CORRESPONDENCE. I must apologise to my correspondents who have iieon kept waiting. The more important ones shall havo their innings now. Some correspondent from the Roxburgh district sent mc a moth for identification, but I have not yet found out its name. I must, ask all sending notes or Bpecimens to mo also to send namo and address, for I naturally want, to know with whom I am communicating. A Christchurch reader wishing to improve his English asks advice. If bo were in Dunedin, I should say: Take the English classes at the Technical School. I assume there are English classes in connection with (lie Christchurch Technical School, and I imagine the senior English class will meet his requirements; if not, ho might make arrangements with Air Marshall, tho director of Hie Dunedin Technical Classes, to get notes from bore. There aro correspondence classes in Auckland, Christ church, and Duncdin. all covering tho work needed. Jf, however, my correspondent wishes to work unaided, then I suggest " A Manual of Our Mothor Tongue," Nosfiold's " English l'ast. and Present," and "English Grammar and Composition." Reading good authors, with h. play or an essay or a. piece of poetry annotated, will widen the mental horizon, and givo facility of cxprcision, Read Jlacauloy's " Essays" and the essay on Olive annotated; but to appreciate the essay and lo rend.it intelligently, read a short life of Clive, and becoinc acquainted with the political and commercial history of tho time. Perhaps tho inquirer will let 1110 know if I havo given him suitable advice. I may f-ay hero that only under exceptional circumstanoes do I reply through tho post.

A pupil from tho Hawea Flat School sends extracts from his Nature-study observations; but, whilo interesting as showing what, is done in some schools—and for that reason l am publishing it, and thank mv young friend for sending the table,—such extracts, to he useful, ought to be tlio result of observations under conditions as nearly tho as possible, and placed in a table along with observations taken in other schools under similar conditions. If it were I should like to have a weekly synopsis giving weekly maximum and minimum and mean thermometers and barometers, amount of rain, of sunshine, and the prevailing wind, with one or two other details. These, coming from various parts of O'a^o—or, belter still, from North Capo to Stewart Island—would ho of great value in studying climatology, and, I fancy, would ho very interesting. Those details would not tako up much space; and if any school will send them in I shall ho glad to publish the particulars. Tako the table given, for instance. Already at Ilawea tho thermometer has been Bdeg below freezing point, and as high ats 83deg— in the shade, I presume. Then noticc tlio small amount of rain—less than a quarter of an inch for nine days I That is, the climate line been both colder and warmer thin wo have had in Dunedin; and—what wo envy tho Hawea folk—much drier. The temperature figures 6eem to indicate that just as it is holler in summer and colder in winter in the interior than on tho coast, so it is hotter as a rule in the day time tnd wider at night. Then, again, in what direction was the wind blowing when it was raining? In Dimwlin. sometimes there is a drizzling, driving rain from the oast, yet when the wind gets over the hilla and onto Iho Taier'i it is a. dry one. My youn* contributor can now 6ee how useful her figures arc and how interesting it would probably bo to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of readers, the figures and particulars I ask for together with any unusual climatic conditions would be, if they could he obtained over a wide aren. 8o please send details, if possible, under tho modified conditions I suggest. In Dunedin tho barometer and the tides have been behaving very erratically of late, I am told, lint I have not made any observations, A Niortli Otago teacher sends in a note on, Evaporation which is instructive; this gentleman, too, showed by a blackboard diagram how, in the > streets of San Franei'eo, tho ltigh buildings block out nearly all light in the streets running north and south, and allowed still less to. get into tlio streets running east and west. The diagram applies still moro to the streets of Chicago and New York, as last week's Witness pictures show. In an accompanying note I am promised somo notes on tho dispersal of seeds.

Tho letter 6ent. in by Sea Beach draws Attention to tin* tk)U(rhtl«s oruclty of many. I hope, however, that before long there will ho nothing thero for gulls to fend lrpon. ]t is a disjraeo that such a picturesque little spot phoulrl be so polluted

Somo timo ago, someone on the West Coast, who reads idt column, sont mo tho Grey River Argus with a delightful marked

article " Among (ho. Fauna.'' which I hope lo make UPo of some day. If. is written by "Waratah." I shall bo very glad at any lime to receive interesling clippings on (ho flora and fauna, or tho history and geography of New Zealand, anil, indeed, any information which will further the objects of this column.

My last; is a Idler from Owalta, giving l a little information about tho League of the Empire, and a letter received from a Home correspondent. lam quite in sympathy with the movement to bring about a correspondence between different parts of the Umpire, and shall probably refer lo this again.

May I ask correspondents to lie considerate towards the linotype operators? They work at night, and are generally paid by results, so the clearer the writing is the easier it is road, tho quicker the matter is put up. Therefore, more is earned in a given time, and with tho minimum amount of exhaustion. Tili'.w. too, wr.lTlxc must be on oke siije oxi.v; and, if possible, with o. margin on the left hand side. One correspondent this week wrote on both sides. S S • O O a £ a a .£ . G S SH K General Weather. Min. Max. !• 31 72 0 Dry, dusty; cool breeze from south. 2 - 21 G7 0 Dry, dusty; cool breeze from south. ■!. 35 G5 .02 Slight shower; day dull; barometer fell in morning. 4• 38 83 0 Dry, sunny; glass rising steadily. 5. .15 78 0 Warm and bright. . 0- 33 77 0 AVarm mid bright. 7. 3G 71 0 Warm and bright. 8. 31 01 0 Snow oil hills, dull afternoon; barometer falling. 3. 32 G1 .02 Dull morning; heavy — ~ — — showers in afternoon. Mn. 34 72 .24

Notes on Evapobmiok. One Wednesday afternoon we gathered a quantity of (air, stringy, red clover, which weighed exactly Blb. When weighed 21 hours later it was GJIb. It had lost lJlb of moisture, that is 3-16's, or per cent, of its weight ;n one day. Six days later it weighed sJlb. It had lost lib in six days. Again wo weighed at the end of 21 hours, but it was only 2oz or Jib lighter. During these eight days it had been kept inside, in a comer of tho room. On Friday morning we laid it outside to let tho hot sun and a drying wind play upon it. Five hour 3 later we weighed again, anel. to our surprise, the balance recorded exactly lib. It had thus lost ljjl'b in the_ fivo hours, or almost exactly a ilb of moisture per hour under tho influence of sun and wind. It was now exactly one halt of its original weight. Fifty per cent, of its weight had mysteriously disappeared. Last Friday wo varied the above little experiment by making two. bundles of the same clover, each Itlb in weight. One we again kept inside, but tho other wo put outside on the top of a tank, to bo out of harm's way. Unfortunately the weather was wet, and so wo did not weigh again till six days had passed. Then v.-e found that tho bundle inside weighed 2>lb, and tho one outside Ijlb, or just lib less, Inside, the loss of moisture w«3 25 per cent., and outside it was 12 per cent. There is no doubt, then, had the weather conditions bcW more favourable, the results would have been more striking. To get th'e pupils to fully realise the amount of moisture absorbed by the atmostphere I asked them to weigh quantities of water at home. This most of them did, ono boy finding that 2Mb exactly filled one of his mother's small pots." I may say this is not exactly a dairyfarming district, but small herds are kept with considerable profit,, and when I asked at the close of the lesson why clover was such a. good milk producer, it was evident that everyone had at least one reason to give. Need I add that every child took a lively interest ill tho experiment, and that I was always reminded when it was time- to weigh again. The results were always left on the blackboard, and Standards V. and VI. worked out the percentages, etc.

Quicksands and Seagulls. To " Magister,"—While on the Ocean Beach Inst Sunday afternoon I took a walk as far as the outlet of the drainage works. What I saw there both surprised and pained me. The'ro wore foine young men and boys amusing themselves by throwing stones at the seagulls, whicli were there picking up any scraps left by the receding waves. It was amusing to watch tho gulls— a small kind, and which appeared to bo quite tame—hopping and jumping about niter anything they could pick up. Directly these hoodlums and hobbledehoys came (young men and boys is too good a name lor them) ihey commenced to throw stones at tho gulls, and if one was struck there was a general laugh. At last they drove all thr seagulls away, and then the men-and-boy-gu'ils 'eft. I think that there should be a notice posted up that anyone caught throwing stones at the seagulls vrauld bo prosecuted. The' seagulls there, it not interfered with, would become quite tnme, and be one of the Bights ot the Ocean Beach. I went to the north end of. the bsach, partly to find out were these quicksands were that some gentlemen have been writing to the press about. There is nc such filing as a quicksand from one end of the beach to the other. What was taken for quicksands is this: About low water or lmll tide let anyone step on the sand when the wave recedes, and he would sink in a little, it . being half sand and half water. Lot him put his walking-stick down, and it would bo the same as putting a stick in soft mud for a foot or so, when he would got bard bottom. There was another thing some gentleman called a quicksand. It happened a few months ago between the two lagoons when they weio lull. There was a big lump of seaweed which tho sea had cast up and the wind covered with sand. It looked solid nn top, and in crossing to the beach one would naturally put his foot oil it and go through it. for it was hollow underneith. It lay right between the two lagoons, there being a small stream of water running underneath the heap. I wpnt through the heap although I knew it was there, having seen tho lump of seaweed before being covered with sand. That was the dangerous quicksand that some elderly person complained of in the Daily Times. Sea Beacii.

Tahatika, Owaka, April 18, 190 G. Dear " Jlagister,"—Seeing some of vouv notes concerned the League of the Empire, or Correspondent League, 1 thought I would write to acquaint you of the contents of two letters I received lately. One was from the lion, secretary (Mts John Jhldane, 4, St. Margaret's road) requesting me tc collect the names, ages, aud addressee of any boys or girls from about 10 to about 10 who wished to correspond with a little English friend. The other was trom my correspondent in Wales. I will send you its contents to publish, so any boy or girl may receive ilio name and address by fulfilling the above-mentioned conditions and getting thei. parent, to stato that their child can do so, and either sending it to Sirs Haldane or myself.—l remain, yours sincerely, (Miss) Mary Hewson. Endowed School, Caerieon, Newport. Monmouthshire, Wales, England. Dear Mary,—Seeing we aro sc far apart I thought I would write this letter, hoping it will be of interest to you. I live in an ancient village called Caerieon. This place was, during the tiino of tho Romans, a great " city." The Romans held their sports and amusements here in Caerieon. Tho name Caerieon derives its naino from Caer (meaning a camp) and I«on (a legion), meaning altogether the " camp of tile legion." Wo havo several ruins in Caerieon,. among which may bo mentioned tho Roman Arch, which was supposed to bo tlw burial placo of a " Saxon king." The chief industry of the people around tho country whero I live is agriculture and farming. A. great addition to Caerieon is tho asylum which has lately been built. Situated three miles to the north-west of the villago is a. largo portnamely, Newport. The chief export of Newport i; coal. Our school is divided into tlirco rooniK We have four teachers and tho governess, whose name is Miss Stott. Yesterday we had our bi-monthly examination. Our school was endowed by a rich gentleman called Charles Williams.' £100 is divided between the boy 3 and girls for scholarships. In order to gain this scholarsnip wo have to attend regularly and pass H.II. inspector's examination. Tli first 10 girls oil tho list aTe clccted for tho sum of £5 each. During the winter time wo have such fun, and I am sure otir teachers aro as bad aa wo are in preparing the slides. What subject do you like best in your school ? I must tell yon that on Friday afternoons wo

are allowed to have two miscellaneous lessons, in which we generally lake general intelligence, | the lesson in which we aTC highly delighted, so much that we fairly shout out in eagerness to answer. Have you some euclyptus in the place where you live? I should like very much for you. to semi me a few leaves of the tree. Have ! you ever read Tennyson's Idylls. Ko doubt' your teacher has read them. If so she will ' know about Caerleon, as it is mentioned several times in it. Do you collect post cards? I do. I should like you to send me one next time. Xoxt time 1 will send you a postcard of Caerleon, the place I live in. In my next letter I will tell you moro about my school and worlr. I will close now.—AVith kind regards your English friend, j Gudys Chilcott.