420 TECHNICAL EDUCATION xvi 



of the science classes is due, that there is much to 

 be done before the system can be said to be thor- 

 oughly satisfactory. The instruction given needs 

 to be made more systematic and especially more 

 practical; the teachers are of very unequal excel- 

 lence, and not a few stand much in need of instruc- 

 tion themselves, not only in the subject which 

 they teach, but in the objects for which they 

 teach. I dare say you liave heard of that pro- 

 ceeding, reproljated by all true sportsmen, which 

 is called " shooting for the pot." Well, there is 

 such a thing as " teaching for the pot " — leaching, 

 that is, not that your scholar may know, but 

 that he may count for payment among those who 

 pass the examination; and there are some teachers, 

 hapj)ily not many, who have yet to learn that the 

 examiners of the Department regard them as 

 poachers of the worst description. 



Without presuming in any way to speak in the 

 name of the Department, I think I may say, as a 

 matter which has come under my own o])servation, 

 that it is doing its best to meet all these difficulties. 

 It systematically promotes practical instruction in 

 the classes; it affords facilities to teachers who de- 

 sire to learn their business thoroughly; and it is 

 always ready to aid in the suppression of pot- 

 teaching. 



All this is, as you may imagine, highly satis- 

 factory to me. I see tliat spread of scientific 

 education, about which I have so often permitted 



