AN INTERESTING ADDRESS.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 14554, 23 June 1913, Page 4

AN INTERESTING ADDRESS.

BY CHHEF INSPECTOR MUUGAN:

In his interesting and instruoti\le address given before the members of the Thames Branch of the Educational Institute and friends the other night, Mr E. X.. Mulgan, M.A., Chief Inspector of Sohqpls under the Auckland Education Boai-d, spoke as follows: —i (RftTRAiL. EDUCATION 1. It was a good thing sometimes to as!ki ourselves a straightforward question and give a straightout answer. The question he would ask was: "Are we giving the best possible education to our Iboys and girls? Is there noij more we might do for them? He felt that we had not done nearly enough in this respect. That the years to come must see greater effort on the part of all. A large bulk of the young people found their way on to the land and until quite recentr ly nothing had (been done to prepare them for their work. He did not mean to imply that the schools should turn out farmers, but they could to a large extent give'the boy a bent towards the land, create a desire tp know more of farming, a work that certainly demanded his best efforts and .abilities. To this end it was £he duty of the schools to teach the pinnciples that lie at the root of agriculture, so -that they could be applied in practice later on. Farmers to-day, says Mr Mulgan, need noli only ability of more than the average, but must h\& able to adapt the principles of modem science. In some places the secondary schools had already taken up this work and he hoped soon to see that it was talkien up in every course of instruction. Mir Mulgan here commended the local High School Board in securing a largier site for the school as he considered the present building and grounds very unsuitable. In referring to the bequest recently made to the Auckland XJkiversity for the purpose of agriculture. Mr Mulgan said that the* suggestion of: Professor Alexander of Lincoln Agricultural College, Canterbury, was a sound one. Professor Alexander advocated not the reproduction of experimental farms —already there were too many of them—tout the preparation of competent instructors, who should go round the country giving: instructive addresses and then at "the end of the course in instruction secure a suitable plot for experimental and practical demonstration of instruction received. Other problems of agricultural science were touched upon by the speaker, such as insect pests—or roots and grain crops, problems that still await solution and in his opinion the solution of these problems Avas the duty of such an institution as a university.