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also largely due to " vapour of water H being lighter, bulk for bulk, than air: These errors are largelyowing to inaccurate statements in popular books on such subjects. The books prepared in New Zealand for the Course A geography are of indifferent quality, and many teachers would find it worth while to become acquainted with the lucid, accurate, and interesting pages of Mr. Shoosmith's " Observation Lessons in Geography for Juniors." The astronomical phenomena included in the Standard VI course are naturally hard for children to understand, and from their complication difficult to explain, and are seldom intelligently dealt with by them. I have long been of opinion that this part ofjthe syllabus should be struck out. It is becoming increasingly evident that the Course B geography scheme is not calculated to give any satisfactory knowledge of even the most important matters covered by the course. In many schools very little is learnt about New Zealand; and the capitals, great ports, and great industries and productions of the chief countries of the world are very poorly known. The whole scheme is unworkable. Permanent knowledge of the more important facts cannot be gained without much revision, and a much more thorough drilling in possibly dry facts than the syllabus thinks necessary. Books suitable for such a course can hardly be got; as reading-matter their pages are not unsatisfactory, but thev deal with so much in a cursory way that the few matters worth learning properly are lost in the crowd. Teachers would do well to mark in a copy of the Reader used such places and topics as they have endeavoured to plant firmly in their pupils' minds, and to take pains to revise these from time to time. Lasting knowledge cannot be gained without revision, and it is a misfortune that this is not emphasized in the syllabus. History is in much the same case as Geography Course B. " Judged from the standpoint of what the children remember, the teaching of history by means of a reading-book is not proving satisfactory. This, however, is comparatively unimportant if we can arouse the interest of our pupils in the story of their country. What we want is fact touched by patriotism " (Mr. Stewart). Civic instruction is not now receiving the attention which it deserves, and which it received in many schools a year or two ago. The " Citizen Reader "is rarely seen in a pupil's hands. In all schools the Inspectors will expect to be shown the teacher's notes of lessons on this subject and also on health. Nature study and science are seldom taken up in the smaller one-teacher schools, though I consider it desirable that some work in nature study should be undertaken in all country schools. Its scope need not be extensive, and it should aim at giving precision and something of system to the common knowledge of nature and her ways that all rural children acquire. In the larger schools a good deal of fairly promising work in nature study is being carried on. " This subject," writes Mr. Stewart, "is in its The great want is a well-graduated course, and one that does not show much repetition. In many cases the scheme presented has been almost identical for several classes ; while the oral examination did not in successive classes show any great advance. If the children have done practical work out-of-doors in a satisfactory manner, and if their note-books contain original drawings from natural objects, we are justified, I believe, in concluding that good must result. The scheme set out in ' Watts and Freeman' affords a good basis of work for the senior classes, but most teachers need more definite guidance for the work of the younger children. There are two little books I feel justified in bringing under your notice ; they would, I think, prove very valuable to country teachers— ■viz., ' Nature Study and the Teacher' by D. C. Williams, and ' Observation Lessons in Plant Life,' by F. H. Shoosmith. The preface to the latter is admirable, and might with advantage be read by most teachers. School gardens a*e becoming more numerous ; both teachers and children are taking an increasing interest in them." It is most desirable that a serious effort should be made to provide school gardens in connection with all schools, and I would urge head teachers and School Committees to take this provision in hand without delay. In connection with nature study and agricultural knowledge the pupils should always keep a special note-book, and drawings by the pupils should be freely entered in its pages. Besides these drawings—often rough ones —that pupils make themselves, there might sometimes be better copies of the teacher's blackboard sketches. It is pleasing to find a growing number of our younger teachers able to use blackboard drawings and sketches effectively in connection with various lessons. In the larger schools science lessons of a suitable kind have been satisfactorily given, and these are illustrated by suitable experiments, which are not infrequently carried out by the pupils. The courses vary a good deal from school to school, and it would be an advantage if there were more uniformity in this respect, aeeing how pupila move about from school to school. New books dealing with science for elementary schools are constantly appearing—among them one that is rich in suggestion as regards methods of work, Heller's " Elementary Experimental Science."* The matters to be taught under the heading of " Health " are detailed in the syllabus, section 57. As a rule, the lessons given dwell too much on formal physiology and the details of the function of alimentation. While a general idea of the build of the body and of the position of the chief internal organs should be given, stress should be mainly laid on the external conditions of health, and especially on tintopics enumerated at the end of the syllabus outline beginning with " Air, Ventilation, and Respiration." It is in the directions of hygiene and first aid that this teaching can be best developed. The functions of the internal organs, other than the lungs and the circulating system, need hardly be touched on. There are small schools in which this subject haa been too much ignored. Varioua branchea of handwork are now widely taught, even in the amaller schools, and the benefits resulting therefrom are generally acknowledged. Paper-folding is not always sufficiently associated with drawing, and the exercises are seldom used aa means of getting pupils to talk of and describe the forms produced. Brush-drawing meets with great favour, and in the larger schools much excellent work has been done in this department. In some daubing is too noticeable.

* Blackie and Son. 2s. lid.