E.—sb

4

many County Councils. I suggest that Saturday classes be established by the various technical schools in conjunction with drawing, and evening classes when a sufficient number of applicants present themselves, the instruction being provided free of cost. Departmental assistance would be rendered by the payment of capitation upon attendance of teachers at the various classes held for special training in these subjects in accordance with the Technical Instruction Act. I further suggest the payment of a bonus of 10s. for every certificate gained for competency in any one of the occupations named, the maximum sum paid to any one teacher being £2. Such examinations should be set by the Education Department, or to the satisfaction of the same. 2. DRAWING. If the public-school system is to be made the instrument whereby our future workmen are trained in technical work, then drawing must be thoroughly taught. The importance of drawing as an industrial subject cannot be overestimated. Eegarded aright, drawing is the most potent means for developing the perceptive faculty— teaching a student to see correctly, and to understand what he sees. Drawing, if well taught, is the constant practice of the analysis of form. By this practice the eye is quickened and rendered incomparably more accurate; and, as the eye is the most open and ready road to the mind, the full development of its powers is a matter of the utmost importance to all, bearing as it does upon the general intellect in a practical direction. No industry can wholly dispense with drawing, for in almost every case something has to be made; the first step must therefore be either a drawing or a model—often both. Drawing must be accepted as a language common to all, and equally as indispensable as writing. As a basis of industrial education it is now recognised throughout the world. In Erance it is taught to every boy and girl in the primary schools for four hours each week, and in secondary schools for eight hours; and in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland it is compulsory throughout all schools. In New Zealand we are fortunate in having drawing taught throughout the primary schools. Unfortunately many teachers fail to appreciate its advantages, and from my knowledge of their work, and judging from the papers submitted by candidates for the annual teachers' examination, much remains to be done before the old prejudice is overcome. It is undoubtedly necessary that those teachers who show incapacity in this direction should be warned to give due attention to the requirements of the syllabus. The old idea that talent is required is long since exploded. If candidates can write they can draw, at any rate, sufficiently well to meet all requirements of the syllabus, providing attention is given to the study of the same. I fully understand the difficulties of many country teachers, but these difficulties have almost disappeared. Text-books and diagrams are plentiful, and aids of every description are available. Why, therefore, should the whims and caprices of individuals be permitted to interfere with the general welfare of the State in its educational progress ? I would again recommend the department to make failure in drawing a failure in the general examination, and that each section of drawing in which a certain percentage of marks is obtained should entitle such candidate to a special certificate. This would enable him to devote his energies to one or other of the remaining sections, instead of, as required at present, the whole four sections. Drawing in the Standards. —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 minds, 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 manycorners 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 First 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. Standard I.: Throughout the standards I advocate the entire exclusion of drawing-copybooks—■ that is, books containing printed diagrams with a space set apart for the reproduction of the copy. The child should be made to see and think for itself, not merely copy what others have done. In such cases 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. A certain amount of work from large diagrams is admissible, but should only form a minor part of the instruction up to Standard 111. In all standards I strongly advocate the use of small solids as a basis of instruction, the children handling the objects and describing the same, with applications to surroundings, cutting-out of plane shape's, &c. In this standard I recommend the use of plain slates, using the whole side, or brown paper with white and.coloured chalks, as suggested under " Shoulder-work." No exercise given should be less than from 3 in. to 4 in. in size. Memory, dictation, cutting-out, and clay-modelling exercises should form a part of .the drawing-lesson. Memory-drawing and cutting-out exercises combined will be found invaluable, as also will dictation-work. The latter is undoubtedly one of the most educational subjects; it involves the habit of the correct use of language by the teacher, and the closest attention upon the part of the scholar; it is really illustrative drawing in the truest sense. Application of simple exercises to borders on patterns should be given, say, upon brown paper, using white and one or two coloured chalks, or brush forms, as suggested under "Brush-work" ; in these exercises the ruler might be used with advantage. Further, say once a month, ask the class to draw some familiar object, it matters not what. No doubt some very funny drawings would be made, but that is not the point;