SCHOOL GARDENS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 248, 23 November 1914, Page 5

SCHOOL GARDENS.

ADDRESS BY MR W. MARTIN.

A most, interesting lecture was delivered in the Normal School on Saturday by Mr W. ITartin, the agricultural instructor of the North Canterbury Education Board. There was a good attendance of teachers, and they listened with the keenest interest throughout.

In outlining the subject, the lecturer stated that New Zealand is, and always will be, an agricultural country. He showed of what great importance agricultural instruction was, by demonstrating what it had done in other countries. In Belgium the profit per acre controlled was the highest in the world, this being due to the magnificent agricultural education system in that country. whicii was the greatest wheat-producing country in the world, had the distinction of having the best system of agricultural instruction throughout the universe. Austria had the honour of being the first country to commence compulsory gardening in schools, and Sweden had over 5000 school gardens, none of these being less than half an acre in area. In Britain, school gardens now formed the basis of one of the most important sub-jects.

The lecturer then went- on to say that he thought that we, too, ought to teach the best method of agricultural education in New Zealand. The modern farmer must be an experimentalist, and he would only become such by acquiring the habit at school. To enable pupils to acquire habits'at first-hand the teachers would have to have a Clear conception of the aims of the work, and a willingness to fulfil those aims. In order that pupils should take a keener interest in-. the work it would be as well to keep the competitive aspect to the front.

Mr Martin then showed some views of several school gardens in New Zealand and throughout the world, after which he was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks, and the lecture terminated .