£.—5

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workmen are voluntarily giving up much of their leisure time to acquiring at evening classes, under competent instructors, a knowledge of the scientific basis of their trade and increased manipulative skill. In the day technical schools also, many of our future mechanics are going through a course of preliminary training under more favourable conditions and acquiring scientific knowledge, mental alertness, manipulative skill, and, it is believed, a wider outlook on their work generally that must unquestionably prove to be of high economic value. The time appears to be past when the value of such training can be questioned, Jt is almost universally recognized that a knowledge of scientific principles, if intelligently applied, produces uniformly better results in every vocation than blind practice. It has been said that " a blind pigeon may find a pea," and on the same principle blind practice and empiric knowledge may sometimes secure good results; but if industrial efficiency and the best results are tfc be consistently achieved, then principles and practice must be co-ordinated; and this is the fundamental basis of the work of technical schools. It therefore naturally follows that workmen trained on these lines must have higher economic value than those who have not been so favoured by circumstances, and that young lads who have received an initial training in the elementary principles underlying the practice of a trade are more likely to reach quickly a higher standard of industrial efficiency than those who go straight from the primary school to the workshop, and for the first year or two "do odd jobs about the place." The recognition by those concerned of the fact that a new generation of well-trained workmen is growing up, and"that industrial conditions require to be readjusted to meet the new order of things industrial would provide a wholesome stimulus to our technical schools, and remove the fear of the possibility of the expenditure in both effort and money on the training being wasted. If employers could see their way to recognize the training given, or even go further and make it a condition of apprenticeship that, if it has been within his reach, a lad must produce evidence that he has attended a day technical school or its equivalent for three years, and has satisfactorily passed through the course of instruction before he could become an apprentice, the future supply of well-trained mechanics would be assured, and the relationship which at present exists between the schools and the workshops of the Dominion be made closer and more effective. If employers consider that the training provided is unsuitable, and does not equip lads to meet present industrial requirements, the matter is entirely in their own hands. Many large employers of labour are on the Board of Managers of some of our technical schools, and Directors and instructors are only too pleased to receive and consider, and if feasible give effect to, any suggestion relating to the readjustment of courses of instruction that will make for higher efficiency. It is certain that industrial conditions and the markets of the civilized world are undergoing vita] changes; the time therefore appears to be ripe for preparations to be made to meet them, and one of the most effective methods of preparation, so far as this Dominion is concerned, appears to lie in the direction of ensuring a supply of highly trained, skilful workmen. The means for the accomplishment of this niuch-to-be-desired puroose is ready at hand : it only requires to be adapted on some such lines as has been suggested. Day Technical Schools. A brief review of the courses, of work will suffice to indicate the kind of training given to the young people in attendance. .j. The commercial course provides the basis of a sound training for commercial life; bookkeeping, shorthand, typewriting, business methods, as well as the essentials of a sound English education, are, speaking generally, well taught, and the majority of those who take this course are, at the end of three years, competent to efficiently fill junior positions in offices. The constant demand by business men for boys and girls who have received a day technical school training in commercial subjects, and the satisfactory reports that reach directors and others of the way in which these young people perform their duties, are sufficient guarantee that the training they receive is sound. The industrial courses provide for the preliminary training of carpenters, joiners, cabinetmakers, and electrical and mechanical engineers, a training suitable for those who will eventually join the ranks of handicraftsmen. They also provide a foundation training for those who will become the future captains of industry. The subjects of theoretical instruction include mathematics and geometry, mechanics, and elementary science (physics and chemistry), heat engines, elementary building-construction, and mechanical drawing, including hand-sketching j and these are supplemented by a thoroughly sound elementary training in woodwork practice, given in workshops equipped with the latest and best machines and all the necessary apparatus for hand-and-eye training. Speaking generally, the instruction is on sound, modern lines, and a lad passing through the courses will have acquired skill in the use of hand tools and the machines connected with his chosen trade, and an elementary working acquaintance with underlying principles sufficient to give him an intelligent interest in his work. Having nothing to unlearn when he enters on his apprenticeship, he will be able at once to take his place at the bench or at the machine, and do work of a productive nature. As the primary industries of this Dominion are likely to be our principal industries for many years to come, attention is given in the agricultural courses at most of our day technical schools to the theoretical and practical sides of the various branches of farming pursuits. The limited number of young lads who avail themselves of the instruction provided to som©''extent places an undesirable limit upon its scope, but the work attempted is, as far as it goes, carried out on sound lines. No attempt is made to teach scientific farming, but a sufficient knowledge of the elementary scientific principles is imparted to enable students to pursue future studies intelligently. The courses include chemistry, elementary botany and biology, milk and cream testing, animal physiology, and in some instances a special study of farm animals, and on the practical side sheep-shearing, wool-classing, and practical farm-work, on an acreage sufficient to make the work a satisfactory introductory training for actual farm-conditions. As before