AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12902, 13 February 1906, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

INFORMATION FROM MR HOGBEN.

A member of the " Herald " staff had an interesting conversation with /"Mr George Hogben, Inspector-General of Schools, who was in Timaru from Saturday till yesterday, on the subject of agricultural education in primary schools. This subject has been a great deal talked about during the last- two or three years, but as yet not much has been done, except by individual teachers. Recently, howHogben states; some of the Educate Boards -have taken definite steps to lay the foundation' -for a general adoption of elementary agriculture as a school subject by appointing men to instruct' the teachers. The Wellington and WaDganui Boards have each appointed their man, and Auckland is about to do so, and some others are understood to.be considering ways and means. North and South, the section of the colony which is most purely and moist thoroughly agricultural, is not yet moving hi that direction. There are "school classes" in several, of the schools of -South Canterbury, earning the Government capitation by the work done under teachers who have worked ,up the subject to a teaching point for themselves. What is required is that the teachers geneally should Tbe instructed so that they can disseminate the knowledge they may acquire among, hundreds of the "children in their charge. 4 ' ' Vjas good enough to explain the ari^g^^ts : ., jnade by the Government to enable this to be done. Hie Department declines' to "force agriculture as a subject into the schools, but it has provided machinery by means of. which the people of the educational district- can get the process- started, and offers liberal inducements fog its adoption and application. Success depends upon getting a good instructor for the teachers, and- this "depends upon the money available. ! The Department suggests that the local bodies, the County Councils, Road Boards, Agricultural Associations, should show some interest- in

the matter, by subscribing a, moderate sum / to set the machinery in motion. In discussing the matter with the Hawke's Bay people, Mr Hogben calculated that £IOO a year would be a sufficient 'nucleus for the fund to- pay an instructor for the principal portion of that district, and probably" a similar sum would be sufficient for South Canterbury. The Hastings Borough Council, Mr Hogben states, offered to provide 4350 nf the £IOO reonired. Ths-machinery *Duve ie.'t: ;ed lo is the Teciiisivai Class?

Association through whom the subscribing local bodies would work, and upon whose committee of management they as subscribers could be represented. The Department subsidises the subscription £ for £, making, in the case suggested, £2OO. Then the Education Board comes in, with the powers given to it ia this connectibn. Each Board receives a grant of a certain sum yearly, to be expended, at the .discretion of the Board, in the instruction of teachers. This year the South Canterbury Board receives £125 for this purpose. A departmental circular of 24th January last conveys a plain hint that the Department desires to see m<®o attention paid to the subject, of agricultural instruction, and at the same time provides an inducement to it. The circular states that this Board may expend any sum up to £75 out of the £125, upon the instruction of teachers in agriculture, and the State will add a further grant of an eqnal amount. If, for instance, the Board allocates £SO for that purpose, the Department gives another £SO, mating £IOO provided through the Board. This, with the £2OO previously mentioned, obtained through the Technical Classes Association, makes £3OO. Then there is the capitation paid by the State for the attendances of pupils, and Mr Hogben calculated that the comparatively small average attendance of only 40 would enable, another £IOO to-be obtained, making £4(fo a year for the payment of the instructor, and for that sum, with a free railway pass, the services of a good man ought to be available. The working expenses of a class axe low, and the State provides the full cost of materials for teachers' classes and up to, two-thirds the cost- for adult classes of' others than teachers. The inducement to the local bodies and fEe .Agricultural Associations tosubscribe is that the. technical instructor, would form classes for farmers' sons, who, under certain easy conditions, would have no fees to pay, and the classes would be arranged to suit their convenience as far as possible. The Education Boards are I provided with funds to help their teachers to acquire any instruction they need, and in a district like this the purpose to which those funds skxrnld be largely applied, needs no- seeking. Canterbury, more than any other part of the colony, ought to go in for technical education in agriculture, and this should be commenced m the primary schools. " Technical classes " in) the subject would be able to take more advanced studies,- as boys would have "had a- grounding in elementary principles before leaving school. Mr Hogben is of opinion that probably more satisfactory results would be obtained if North and-South Canterburywere to combine in the appointment of three teachers, &f different specialties, the railway facilities' "being so good that' distance is no obstacle to the utilisation of the services of three men over the combined districts. ,