E.—Lb

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awaken any distinct conception of what is meant. The fault lies more in the equipment of schools than in the teachers, for no sets of weights and measures have been supplied, and indeed we may say generally that the absence of proper apparatus, for which money does not appear to have been available, has proved, and still proves, in many ways obtructive of reform. Geography.—With the progress that is now being made with the new geography in our schools we have as yet had little or no opportunity of becoming acquainted. One thing is certain that until adequate means of instruction are provided in the school-equipment, the teachers' efforts in the desired direction must be greatly hampered. We have confidence, however, that in many cases they have ingenuity enough to And a way round. Some of them, we have reason to believe, are already taking a great interest in the subject, and when the merits of the scheme are better understood the interest is bound to increase. But in the minds of the majority so far there has existed a good deal of bewilderment arising out of the indefinite (perhaps designedly and rightly indefinite) character of the programme set down for their guidance. For our own part we shall find a very practical difficulty in dealing with the subject in the Sixth Standard in examining for certificates of proficiency ; at present we are very doubtful of the possibility of interpreting a programme of observational geography, of which the essential feature is the method rather than the substance, the how of the teaching rather than the what, in terms of a percentage of marks in the case of individual pupils. In comparing the older geography with the new no one can fail to be struck with the immense step in advance that has been made in the conceptions embodied. The older geography, which may be regarded as the relic of a discarded " pass " system, had many grave defects ; it made little or no attempt at correlation, reduced lessons in many cases to the names and positions of places with little tags of text-book information attached, minimised the relation of cause and effect, and failed to put the study on any reasonable scientific basis. In method of treatment it was anything from excellent to bad, though never bad enough to deserve the strictures of the critic who sets up an Aunt Sally, consisting of strings of names unintelligently memorised, for the purpose of shying a cocoanut at the dummy of his creation. In the new scheme, which follows to a great extent the lines of instruction long recognised on the Continent of Europe, and more recently adopted in England, the development adheres to the true psychological order, and is truly scientific in the observational and experimental foundation of the knowledge to be acquired. On the lines laid down there appears, however, grave reason for apprehension that so much time will be taken up with the proper treatment of fundamental notions, with the laying of the foundation, that little of the superstructure will appear in many a child's school career, and valuable information on the political side necessary for the intelligent comprehension of everyday facts of human intercourse will be missed. For geography in its humanistic, but non-political, aspect (political geography'finding practically no place in the scheme) the use of a reader is contemplated, though the reader is optional. On this point we may be permitted to express a doubt whether the best plan is thus taken in allowing so important a part of the subject as that outlined in Course B to be dealt with as a reading lesson merely. We have little faith in school reading as a means of acquiring information on any subject, and if the declared intentions of the course are carried out'there must be, besides a great deal more of the difficult relation of caus and effect, more of a demand on the reasoning-powers than may fairly be intrusted to a reading lesson. Much of the matter contained in the course seems to us to ~demand rather the services of definite and skilful teaching to give it any value. If a geographical reader is used at all, we should prefer to assign to it the subsidiary function of stimulating interest and assisting the imagination by picturesque descriptions of life, or accounts of travel, in various lands, the British Empire receiving special attention with a view to the cultivation of a healthy spirit of Imperial patriotism. History and Civic Instruction. —In favour of the use of historical readers there is more to be said, for the history of the elementary school (consisting as it might well do, in a large measure, of welltold stories) may be made more akin to literature. Here again, however, in the domain of civics, with which the history is associated, we trust our teachers will seldom rest satisfied with allowing their children merely to read about matters having a vital bearing on their future as citizens. In civic instruction realistic teaching appears to us as much an essential of proper method as in any other field of effort, and the value is surely great enough to justify the necessary trouble. Drawing.—The drawing of our schools, as the scope of the subject has hitherto been understood, is efficiently treated in a very large majority—at all events as far as freehand exercises are concerned. The development is largely on what has been described as the synthetic plan, beginning with exercises on squared paper or slates, followed by simple straight-lined figures with and without ruler, and thence preceeding through practice in curves of increasing difficulty mainly of the type of symmetrical ornament. This is the plan of the older syllabus ;it is also to some extent the plan of the new; but several fresh conceptions are introduced which now find general acceptance in the educational world. Our teachers would do well to give close attention to those portions of the new programme which refer to free-arm or blackboard exercises, to design, and to drawing from actual objects (nature-drawing). Many of them are already working on the lines of the last of these three branches, and drawing from geometrical models is now receiving more attention, though here physical conditions must always create a difficulty ; but in the direction of design—in making drawings creative as well as imitative—they will find a new and fruitful field for the exercise of their talents. Free-arm drawing is also so far a stranger to our schools, and no means of carrying it out are yet provided. Of the value of the exercise in making drawing an instrument of expression there can be no question, and we hope to see early arrangements made for its introduction. On this topic, the remarks made by a recent able writer on educational principles may be quoted with profit, " Broadly contrasted with the method which, beginning with drill in the elements of form, works at once for rigid accuracy, is that which begins with whole objects familiar to the children, is content at first with performances that are often unsightly and amusing, and works gradually for accuracy. . . . We may safely say that up to the eighth or ninth year drawing should be in the main the free expression of the child's ideas of objects and events. . . . The treatment