EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13917, 31 May 1909, Page 2

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

SOl'TJi CAXTEH.B I'H Y DISTBICT.

A meeting of members of the abovementioned organisation was. Jiciu at tile .technical .-school on ."Saturday alutiiooii, Air .J. .Uenzies presiding over a gatlicring ol aOout thirty. Tne secretary, .Mr \ alentine, read some correspondence.

-v letter from the secretary to the Executive X. /,. E. 1., drew attention to the replies given by the Minister ot Education oil tlie resolutions of tho annual conference, being presented to him. This was not read, as it appeared in the "Journal," Air Goodall wrote pointing out that Mr Thomas Hughes'" term of service as tlie teachers' representative on the Board of Governors of Canterbury College was about to expire, and lie recommended' the teachers " of South Canterbury to vote for Mr Hughes' reelection, as iie had been an excellent representative.—The president and secretary endorsed the. recommendation, and there "were numerous signs of assent from the meeting. The secretary stated that he hail seen the secretary to the Board re paying teachers' salaries in cash instead of by cheques, and Mr Bell said ho would be very glad to make the change if it could be done, and the board would consent; but he.pointed" out that while cash payment wotdd suit the teachers who came to town on pay day it would not answer for those who did not, and to draw their cash and to bank it again and draw cheques would entail a good deal of trouble and some risk of 'mistakes. —The matter was held over for further consideration, and inquiry whether a definite arrangement could be <-ome to for the payment of some teachers regularly in cash and others by cheque. Tlie next" meeting will be the annual meeting, and it was decided to hold it at the Technical School. A paper was read at the meeting by Mr -J. Hardcastle on " Some Points in the Teaching of Geography." The paper at the outset dwelt upon "the importance of the exercise ot the imagination in the study of physical geography, and suggested some ways in which the children's powers of " make-believe'". could be applied to the better realisation of geography lessons —in the magnification of the mental impression of pictures, and of common surface features into conceptions of vaster ones. The second part of the paper dealt with the uses of a fixed globe in the sun, and it wasrecommended that every school should have one in the school ground, fixed with its axis parallel to that ot the earth and New Zealand accurately at the ton. as in that position the sun would shine upon it at every hour of every sunny day, precisely as it shone, upon the earth, and the course of the vertical sun could be followed from tropic to tropic, from mid-sum-mer to mid-winter and vice-versa. To assist in lessons . on this globe a scmi-amiulus. graduated like a protractor. and fitting the globe. . would be useful. A demonstration of its uses was made, in showing that the i»eridians of longitude are noon-lines, that by its means tlie place ol the vcr-

tieal sun .and the noon-lino nt any time during the day can bo found, and that hy a little ingenuity the position in latitude and longitude of a supposititious ship at sea can lie made out. without reference to the mapmaker's indications.- —A vote of thanlvs was parsed to Mr Hardoastle the suggestions conveyed hv his paper hikl demonstrations.