EDUCATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2939, 18 February 1899, Page 4

EDUCATION.

contact with other criminals. He plays the violin well* and conducts the orchestra which plays every day m the penitentiary, while he has shown a good deal of aptitude as an artist. At times his usually intelligent face is clouded over with an expression described as fiendish, and, according to LombroßO, it will be necessary above all to watch him m about nine years' time, when he becomes twenty-six, at which f}Ke he believes the tendency to commit crimes is strongest

THE TIME FOR A NEW DE-

PARTURE.

(Evening Post.)

The time has now come for a thorough reorganisation of our educational system. It is not that any revolutionary principles need be introduced or any departures made from the three-fold basis of free, compulsory, and secular instruction. What is required is an extension of existing principles to meet the changed conditions of the day, and a general amendment of the flaws which time has discovered m the organisation based on the Act of 1877. The urgency of certain reforms such as the relaxation of the syllabus m primary schools and the thorough overhaul of the secondary schools of the colony, has been growing more and more apparent, and the occasion is ripe for entering upon the necessary changes without disturbing the continuity of instruction m our educational institutions. The Government has under consideration the appointment of a successor to the late Mr Habens, and upon the new permanent head— or, if the office is divided, heads— of the Department will devolve the arduous task of advising the Minister of the day how best the educational system of 1877 can be brotfght into line with recent developments. The Education Act of 1877 and the organising work of the late InspectorGeneral undoubtedly laid upon broad lines a sound scheme for public instruction. During the past twenty years the schools of the colony have done much or our people, and we have no reason to cavil at the result. Considering the difficulties that naturally beset a new country, and the many causes militating against the education of large sections of our children, the work done by our public schools — primary and secondary — may justly be termed excellent. But their usefulness at the present day is hampered by flaws that were less noticeable m the past. If we wish for the lasting prosperity of New Zealand we must see that these blemishes are removed. Education—the training of the men and women who form the State— should be among the first considerations of statesmen, and too much care cannot be bestowed upon the choice of the officer who will have the chief voice m its control.

The drill of the Roman soldier was exceedingly severe. It comprised not only the use of weapons, but running, jumping, climbing, wrestling, and swimming m full armour.

The late Mr Habens performed the double duty of Under-Secretary for Education and Inspector-General of Schools, at what we feel bound to consider was an inadequate remuneration. The work of the combined office has necessarily grown with the growth of the colony, and it is almost impossible for one man however energetic, to cope with new developments as well as carry out the routine work that always falls to the lot of an Under-Secretary. The interests of education, therefore, would seem to demand a separation of the two functions. In that event there is every reason to believe that the present Chief Clerk of the Department would from his past experience and general acquaintance with official work be suited for the secretarial post. The selection of an InspectorGeneral would be a far more difficult task. Such an officer should at the present juncture be a capable administrator, thoroughly acquainted with the various educational systems of the United Kingdom, America, and Continental Europe, as well as sufficiently scholarly to save the schools of the colony from a purely utilitarian tone. At the outset he would be called upon to find a way of improving our technical instruction without injuring the educative force of the teaching given m primary schools. He would also have to grapple with the important problem of our secondary schools. These institutions, good as is the work done by some of them, badly need systematisation. They should be brought into more consistent relationship with one another, as well as with the elementary schools on the one hand and the University Colleges on the other. The chief burden of technical instruction must fall upon higher grade schools, and thus there is an urgent need at the present moment of thoroughly reorganising our secondary schools on both the literary and the technical sides.

In addition to these large reforms an Inspector-General would need to revise the syllabus, and to advise the Government as to tn e.cen trali sati on of the local inscectorates, and the various detailed reforms that seem to be required m local control, m the suppression of truancy, and so on. We should also hope to see a new Inspector-General give serious attention to the establishment of kindergarten schools, and to advising the Government and the Legislature as to the feasibility of raising the school age and the standard, of knowledge required for exemption from attendance, In fact, th'e problems that await the new InspectorGeneral of Schools seem such as to tax the energies of a man of the highest capacity, and truly great issues hany, upon the selection to be made by the 'Government. There is great danger ni a man connected with the Educational Department of the colony not beiny quite free from bias, and also being n\6re or less influenced by local colouring. It is especially necessary, if seexns to us that the post should be given, to a man who can take a judicial and broad view of every question submitted to him quite irrespective of local or personal considerations. Can such a man, scholarly, experienced, a good administrator, and absolutely unbiassed, be found m the colony P It is of course, possible, but so far. we have heard no name that would adequately fit the post except perhaps that of a certain professor m one of the University Colleges— whose name it would naturally be invidious to mention. Failing a suitable man here, would it not be best to obtain a proved man from the Old Country ? For our own part, we should be sorry to see appointments given to outsiders as a rule, but m this particular it is open to doubt whether the fully-equipped man can be found m New Zealand. In any event, it must be admitted that the flmallness of the salary attached to this . important office is calculated to deter educational experts from accepting it. In this, as m all other such matters, we must, always stand by the doctrine of adequate remuneration for expert management. The control of education should, above all things be m the hands of % thoroughly competent and able administrator, and is it likely that such a one can be obtained for £600 a year, less even than is paid to the headmaster of one of our secondary schools? What the country now needs is a man of. the highest class, and that would certainly mean a salary of not less than £1000 per annum.

The kindliness of heart oi the Queen has been well brought out by a recent occurrence. On the condition of Mrs Findlay ■— widow of a captain of the 79th Highlanders, one of the most stalwart officers m the British Army, for he stood 6ft 6in m his atockingß, who lost his life at the battle of Atbarabecoming known, Her Majesty signified to the expectant mother her desire to stand as god-parent to her child, and that it should be named after her. Mrs Findlay gave birth recently to a son, who, at the Queen's wish, has been named Victor Alexander. Her Majesty gave the little fellow a handsome baptismal cloak, and it is understood that his future will be cared for. Mrs Findlay had been married only a couple of months when her husband was ordered to proceed along with his regiment to the Soudan. She is a daughter of Colonel Barron, one of the chief instructors of the School of Gunnery.

Under the guidance of Profesßor Lombroso an attempt is being made m America to build np a conscience m a boy who who was born practically without one. Hejis now seventeen years of age, and is serving a term of twentyyears' imprisonment m Colorado for a cold-blood murder committed when he was only eleven years old. The youth works daily at carpentering, does not wearj convict clothes, and 1b kept from