Mr. Macan's Address 295 



schoolmasters produce as good fruit or better than 

 a formal lecture. I could wish that the eminent 

 gentlemen from above, whose omniscience from tonic 

 sol fa to gardening, cooking, and basket-making fills 

 me with amazement, could have more leisure and, if 

 possible, more knowledge to deal in their inspections 

 with the group of subjects which form the object of 

 this exhibition ; at any rate we would not then have 

 a "senior chief" telling a teachers' conference in so 

 many words that " Nature-study was all rot ". 



Of course in some counties, notably Staffordshire 

 and Essex, systematic work throughout years and ses- 

 sions by means of teachers' classes has been initiated, 

 and where there are facilities for it no doubt this is of 

 the highest value. So far the County Councils have 

 not been able to get a finger into the training colleges, 

 but there is a good time coming. 



The Agricultural Education Committeehavestrongly 

 recommended the government to encourage a third 

 year's training at agricultural colleges to fit teachers 

 for rural schools. With a view to making it possible 

 for institutions of university rank to cater for these 

 teachers without serious loss, the goverment have, 

 in committee on the Education Bill, promised to in- 

 crease the grant to day-teaching institutions, where a 

 hostel is provided, by ^ 1 5 per head, thus making it 

 equal to that paid to residential colleges. It would 

 then be possible for some ten or twenty teachers to 

 live in a hostel attached to a college like Wye, and go 

 through a course of agricultural training, the college 

 receiving 50 from Whitehall for each student. 



As a matter of fact very few teachers train for the 

 third year now, chiefly because there are few places 



