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road through which knowledge passes to the mind, the full development of its powers is a matter of no small importance to all. In this respect, then —as an education of the eye—drawing is a most valuable means, irrespective of any service the power may be in itself. Drawing, therefore, is a most valuable discipline in early education, if it be viewed merely as a means of development of the faculties, and one equally fitted for all ranks and both sexes ; and this must be constantly borne in mind as one of the causes of its utility, that it teaches to see and do all things more perfectly, and that it is a development of the general intellect of the country in an eminently practical direction. A very prominent member of the English Government, in distributing prizes gained at Oxford and Cambridge examinations, stated that he should no more think of advocating that every one should study mathematics than he should of advocating the teaching of music and drawing. This speech appearing in the Press drew forth severe criticisms, among which appeared one from Sir Henry Cole containing the following : "As to drawing, it is next in use to writing, and even of more importance than writing in handicrafts." Mr. Nasmyth, the inventor of the steam-hammer, wrote as follows : " Sixty years' experience with engineering works, and with mechanics and other classes of workmen engaged in such occupation, enables me to say that of all the useful acquirements beyond those of the ' three Rs 'is that of drawing. By the term ' drawing ' I mean the art of representing forms of natural or artificial objects by lines which, when even rapidly sketched by a practical hand and educated eye, can bring an object before you with a distinctness and rapidity such as no oral or written description could accomplish. During a long and active life, engaged in occupations in which I have had daily occasion to communicate definite ideas to others in respect of forms and combinations of forms, the possession to a certain extent of the power of rapidly sketching such in order to convey ideas of what I desired to communicate to others has done me more real service than any other acquirement or faculty I may be in possession of. If we desire to produce really useful and effective men by means of our schools, let the pupils, by every opportunity, acquire this valuable art of handsketching." Charles G. Leland, in an article on practical education, states: "It was found by the most careful inquiry that the pupils who attend the drawing-classes had the highest averages in other studies, such as arithmetic, geography, and composition. This fact is the more striking from this : that the School Board, having made inquiries, found that among 110,000 pupils the 200 which attended the Industrial Art School were amongst the first in everything." Regarding drawing as at present taught in the schools of New Zealand, considering it to be the basis of technical education, and also that drawing and elementary science are the only two subjects possible to be taught in our schools with a view to technical training, it behoves the Education Department, seeing how much depends upon drawing, to see that it is thoroughly taught. The most serious drawback I found in every technical and art school visited in Australia was the fact that with very few exceptions the students had no ground-work upon entering, and consequently a great amount of elementary work was entailed upon the instructors, and valuable time wasted. I am convinced, if this work was efficiently done in the primary schools, as it should be, fully nine months' work would be saved in the technical school, and greater benefits be derived by the students. Taking the standard work in drawing as at present organized, the infant-classes are looked upon by many as being too young to learn drawing. Such, however, is far from being the case: these children are quite capable of not only drawing straight lines, squares, angles, &c, but of understanding their nature and applying the knowledge to facts—as, for instance, upright lines and surfaces to the sides of the walls, angles to corners; also of knowing and even illustrating facts in regard to shape of objects, as, for instance, drawing a square from a square, drawing the shapes of block letters in single lines from solid or paper letters. I would not urge efficient drawing of lines as being requisite, but that the children should be taught simply to look about, make use of their eyes and hands, and then to draw out the impressions made upon their mind, in this way cultivating their powers of discrimination, the true aim of the best education. This would from the first be in the right direction. Further, it is well to allow the children to feel the object, so that by touch, say, a triangle, square, or oblong might be described as having so many corners and so many sides. The teacher in such cases should have the models in her apron, and the child should be asked to take one with eyes closed and describe it. The Eirst Standard children coming up from the infant classes would have then formed a correct idea of the simple figures, and would more readily draw them. lam convinced that insufficient attention is paid to position in drawing, and method of holding the pencil. It is of the utmost importance that these should be carefully attended to in the first class, as an improper position and use of the pencil, when it has been allowed to crystallize into habit, has a continuous detrimental influence on the scholar and his or her work. The Eirst and Second Standard drawing-books issued for class-use under the authority of the Education Department should be at once withdrawn if success is to be obtained. Some of the examples in Book 11. might be used by the teacher as blackboard exercises for class-instruction. However good the copies contained in these books may be, there is no application to objects : simple lines and figures are given upon closely- and faintly-ruled lines, to be followed or traced over by the scholars. The faint lines are decidedly injurious to the sight, and the closeness of some of the copies set is a further serious objection. It is simply a question of copying: there is no attempt to train the eye to see, the memory to retain the impression made, and the hand to convey that impression to paper. The mere fact of copying is not drawing. The course of work for Eirst Standard should be a continuation of the infant course, to include a thorough knowledge of the sphere, cube, cylinder, and triangular and square prism, taking lines in various positions applied to surrounding objects, lines parallel, division of lines into parts, and formation of simple patterns by straight lines used in construction of above solids. It is not intended that the