NATIVE CHILD LIFE. - . . 6/9 



taken no notice of in the way of 'behaviour by his parents is 

 vigorously deprecated by his instructor. 



And yet it is creditable to observe how quickly the tyro 

 begins to adjust himself to the new conditions. In the case 

 of the Native child, unlike the majority of Europeans, a totally 

 new environment must be created for him. His mind has to be 

 gradually weaned from the mental and moral atmosphere to 

 which he has been accustomed. Rather than that the home of 

 the Bantu youth should be regarded as " the one indispensable 

 factor in the child's training," one would venture to suggest that 

 better results might follow if it were possible for the young- 

 people to be entirely removed from their kraal life for a number 

 of years, particularly during the most impressionable period, and 

 placed in some scholastic establishment where they would be 

 constantly under careful discipline, not merely during school 

 hours, but from the time of their admission to the time oif their 

 departure. It has been said of Europeans that " during the 

 first six years, the child's proper place is at home, or in some 

 institution which seeks to realise as far as possible the free- 

 dom, the spontaneity, and the affectionate intercourse of a 

 good home," and the writer's suggestion is that the latter course 

 would be by far the better one for Native children, exceptions 

 being made in some cases with the children of educated Chris- 

 tian parents. 



In connection with Native child life it is well to bear in 

 mind that one of the principal objects of education is the forma- 

 tion and development of character, and to this end mere book 

 work is inadequate. The suggestions put forth by Dr. C. T. 

 Loram, in his splendid work entitled " The Education of the 

 South African Native," which deals exhaustively with this 

 important subject, are well worth the consideration of all those 

 interested in the welfare of these people. 



Concrete Sleepers — On the railway line between 

 Asti and Altavilla in Italy a system of interlinked sleepers of rein- 

 forced concrete has been adopted. The sleepers are arranged 

 lengthwise beneath each rail. They are triangular in cross 

 section, and each rests on a pedestal along the centre of its 

 base, so that they are capable of a rocking motion which imparts 

 some resiliency to the rails. Each sleeper supports the rail at 

 two points, about as far apart as in the case of ordinary trans- 

 verse sleepers, and at each point a cushion of hard wood is 

 interposed between the rail and the sleeper. The advantages of 

 the system are said to comprise uniform elasticity; greater 

 exactness in, and better maintenance of the level of the line and 

 the gauge ; resistance by canting at least equal to that possessed 

 by lines as now constructed ; and less creeping of the rails. 



