Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1894. THE EXAMINATION TEST.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8372, 12 January 1894, Page 2

Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1894. THE EXAMINATION TEST.

Some time back we referred to the remarks made by Mr Andrews in his report upon the result of the annual examination of the Wanganui Collegiate School, in which as examiner he candidly admitted that it was not wise that a person occupying the position of a teacher in the school should be called upon to fill the role of examiner. Mr Andrews saw fully the unsatisfactory nature of such a position, and advocated an outsider being appointed to examine the school. This will be done, so there is no need to make further reference to that particular matter here. But it brings up another to which we made some reference yesterday, viz., the wish of the head master of the Wanganui Boys' School that class marks should count with the Inspector's for the honours of " dux " and the Caledonian Society's medal. At the first blush this seems fair enough, but a little thought will convince most people that class marks are not to be entirely trusted, as a boy may be absent and lose the chance" of gaining a sufficiency of them with the Inspector's marks to entitle him to the position of " dux," whilst another, a master's pet, perhaps, may gain top class marks, and yet fail signally to stand the crucial test of the Sixth Standard examination.

The Melbourne Argus, in a well thought out article on the annual distribution of scholastic prizes, make 3 the following sensible remarks :—": — " The educational carnival of the year is over. The masters and mistresses of the secondary schools have indulged in the customary bataille desfleurs, and fired the conventional feu dejrie. The breaking up and the ' cracking up ' have naturally gone together. The rhetorical rockets have ascended, the bare matter-of-fact sticks lie before us, and the familiar smell of rather stale gunpowder haunts the atmosphere. In other words, the usual speeches have been delivered from j the usual platforms, and, unhappily,' in far too large a measure they de-

nand the uaual comments. It is ataelthat ' since we recently began j ;o ataw attention to tbie futility ot ihe TaveTage iiieaponsible • report ;het"p has been a di^tinpt improvement n the tone of many of those interestng documentß. They have shown an ncreasing tendency towards plain :ommon pense,andall effort to repress the bolder flights of self-complacency md self-advertisement. Nevertheless, from a comparison of the reports Df the various 'colleges' and of other insettutions which smell quite as sweet and sound much less snobbish under the simple name of schools, we find it still necessary to reiterate that secondary education among us ia by no means what it ought to be ; that as a whole it is entirely without system, check, or test ; that in consequence its standard is unduly low and its ideals unduly mean; that our higher schools are decades behind either the public schools of England, the G-jrmnasien o£ G-ermany, or theLycees of Erance ; and that they will lag and stagnate so long as the farce is kept up of any self-established teacher reporting to himself on the merits of his own teaching. So long as the public decide "between the most conscientious and learned of headmasters and the most incompetent of charlatans simply by what each thinks fit to say of himself, it is highly probable that the charlatan will win by the sheer congenital superiority of his quaekingpowera." Captain Hunter-Blair's resignation as A.D.C. to the Governor has been accepted. Mr O. H. Ohavunnes has been appointed starter for the Polo Sports to be held in Wanganui in March. The cricket matoh, Carponters v. Press, will be played on St. John's Hiil and not on the T&eeccourise as previously notified. The immigration returns for December show the arrivals in the colony to bo 2980 and the departures 1031. The bulk of the arrivals were from New South Wales. Ministers will decide next week whether it is desirable to incur expenditure in sending a New Zealand representative to the .military competition about to be hold at Qaeencliffe. The vital statistics for December show that two deaths occurred from influenza al Dunedin, and two from whooping cough. At Wellington the proportion oE death! from all causes has fallen from 14r43 tc 10-68. A tuspiciouß ocourrenco took place yoßter day off the Sydney Heads. A French barque after standing two miles off the heads, hovt to and picked up a small sailing boat with two men aboard. They are supposed tc have been levanters. It is known that th< employee of a well-known firm haa victim ised his employers to the extent of several thousand pounds, but the police deny thai this man has yet left the colony. Tb< barque is bound for the Marshall Islands. At the Wellington Police Court yester day aftornooD, the Mngistrate remandet Gunner Bezar until Tuesday, the police uol being ready to proceed with the case. Th< Magistrate said it was not a case, in whbl he could release accused upon conditiot that he come up for sentence when calloc on, and he also felt inclined to decline bail because if there was sufficient reason foi accused to attempt to take his life, then was additional motive in the disgrace he hac since broueht upon himself in having tc appear in court. The Council of the Now Zealand Educa tional Institute, which has been in seßsioi at Nelson, closed yesterday. It was re solved to meet nest year at Invercargill Mr Mehaffey was elected President, M: Grundy re-elected Secretary, and S. Foster Ohristchurch, elected Treasurer. Messn Watson (Wellington), White (Dunedin) and Stewart (Auckland) were electee as the Executive Council. It wai stated that tho whole expense of the Nalaot meeting was £153, of which the Govern ment contributed £70. Numerous hearti votes of thank 3 were recorded. In the after noon tho visitors were driven out by the Mayor. The following is the statement in thi bankrupt estate of Thomas Peapell, asset: as nil; unsocured creditors a3 follows : — J W McDuff, £1; Chai-ks Breed, £1 6s '• T Eowe, £34 9a; J. Muir, £7 14a lid; E Moult, £2 9s 3d; F. Oriraes, £2 4s lid Dr Saunders, £1 Us 6d ; Hoaan and Co. £4 19s lid; A. W. Curry, £2 6a; Tayloi and Breiner, £1 Is ; C. E. Billinghurst, £! 15s Id; G. Caiman, £3 4s 6d ; J. Kean, £f 12s; W. Montgomerie, £3 195; J. Dudley £3 10a; Wanganui Meat Preserving Co. £1 4a 6d ; and smaller amounts undei 20a. The preferential claims are : — J Niv'en, £5 10a ; E. Wright, £5 13s ; and X Staddon, £3 7a. Dr Norman Kerr, remarks the West minister Gazette, believes that there may bo something in the notion that tobacco it a kind of safeguard against infection. The Swiss Federal Council seems inclined to Irj it against accidents and illness. _ In othei words, being desirous of establishing a Statf scheme of insurance, it has set to work th< Departments of Finance and Industry tc find out "the approximate receipts to bt expected from tho introduction of a tobacco monopoly, and the mode and means ot its introduction, while having full regard to the interests of tbo home tobacco industry.' Tho proceeds of the monopoly are roughly estimated at 16,000,000 francs. It is interesting to find the Swiss, who have hitherto dealt as freely in tobacco as bread, joining the rest of Europe in making a Government monopoly of tho weed. Thie may be said, that if tho little Republic manages to maintain a State scheme of insurance out o£ its cigarette puffing, it will be tho most striking instanco on record of what has been writtan about a good deal oi late— the " utilisation of smoke." To be a pet of the public sometimes haß its disadvantages. 4t. Paderewaki for, instance, keeps up his reputation only at the coats of tremendous efforts. To an interviewer for " Black and White " he has confided the fact that ho practises at the piano often for fifteen or sixteen houra a day. Once, in New York, he had to work up eight entirely distinct programmes in little over as many days, and then it was a eaßo of seventeen hours' practice daily. One must always be at it, he explains, to keep the fingers right and the memary active. The work is certainly tiring, and M. Padorewski considers that playing billiards— a game he is very fond of has saved his life by affording him the necessary rolief from his arduous work. ThoßO crashing blows of his on the piano are not, as somo might imagine, mado with the elosod fiat. Sometimes they are done with the third finger stiffened out, sometimes with the thumb, sideways. He seems to see nothiug wonderful in the effieot produced, although his hands are so delicate that an ordinary firm shake maKes him winoe. It is true that, he has a forearm auch as a professional strong man might envy, bo perfect is it in ils muscular development. Details of the recent explosion at Rio, by which two English officers were killed,_have been supplied by a British officer Btationed at that place. He writea that a " sanding " par ty sand being used for deck cleaning — went to an island belonging to Admiral de Mello, on which there were two magazines stored with powder and shell. The party comprised OommandeE Rolleston and Lieutenant Tupper, of the Eacer; Mr Bowden Smith, of the Beagle ; aud First Lieutenant Moubray, Staff-Engineer Shapeote, and Boatswain Harri3, of the Sirius. When the paity landed they found both of the magazines open, aud men wore busily employed transporting powder and shell to a lighter alongside the pier. Tbo Brazilian seamen were smoking cigarettes, and there was a keg of loose powder lying about. They also amused themselves by firing revolvers. Suddenly the magazine stored with powder blew up with a tremendous explosion, and two minutes afterwards another blew up. The Racer's gig and tbe Beagle's cutter were completely shattered and rendered useless, and the men in them were all <noto or less injured. A. piece of shell fell on the head of a man in the cotter of thp Sirius, and made a large hole. The poor fellow died soon after he was taken on board. Mr Shapeote and two man were not hurt, and they got the wonnded down behind » large rock along the shore, whon they found that Lieutenants Moubray and Tuppor and Mr Harris were missing. Shells exploded at short interrals all the evening, and quantities of yrood and iron were thrown far and wide.

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. Sergeant Wilson, ,who was connected with the local polioe force about five years .ago, Mxft who is now stationed at Christohuroh", is at- present on a viait to Wanganui. The World's Trio aud American Novelty Company have booked dates with Mr W. Pinches for a season of six nights in the Oddfellows' Hall, commencing on fche 6th Febiuary. At Dunedin, ¥■ Montague, fancy goods doaler.and J.Brathwaite.BUtioner.-were eaoh fined 20s and costs for failing to allow some of their employes the legal half holiday. Thomson and Co., and Lane and Co., cordial manufactures, wero also fined. •The s.s. Mamari arrived off the Heads at 5 o'clock thiß morning from Wellington and commenced shipping the frozen mutton afc 9.30 a.m. In all 18,800 carcases are, we understand, fco be out aboard. Ifc is anticipated that she will complete loading on the 13fch and then sail for Lyttelton arriving there on fche 16th. That will be her final port of call and sho sails for London on the 18th. She is in charge of Captain Maxwell. Our Bporting contributor " Pakeha " was particularly fortunate in his anticipations for the successful hack meeting held yesterday by the Warrengate J.O. Oub of seven events he tipped fche winners oE four, including tho Warrengata Cup ; Flying Handicap, Trial Stakes, and Electric Handicap, beßideß placing two of fche horses in the Maiden Hurdles, and two in the Ladies' Bracelet although not in the order in which they finished. Afc Fordell yesterday afternoon to wile away tho time until the train started, half a dozen " 45 " playerß engaged in a contest for the championship of the West Coast. The game drew a large crowd of spectators, some of whom in their excitement mounted the shoulders of those in front. " Play to thafc," exclaimed the Knight of the Black Diamond as he planked down the ace of hearts. " How do you like thafc ?" retortei the herald, aa he triumphantly banged tho " five fingers " on his adversary's card and secured the victory for his side. A big match at "forty fives " is talked about, as some of the defeated ones are not satisfied with their beating yesterday and are anxious to regain their lost laurels.