TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 843 



good liigber elementary and middle schools with a technical and commercial side ; 

 (2) the reorganisation of our secondary education with the view to the provision of 

 good modern schools, or departments of schools ; (3) the provision of facilities for 

 advanced commercial instruction at our local university colleges ; and (4) the pro- 

 vision of adequate evening teaching, adapted to the requirements of clerks and of 

 others engaged in mercantile pursuits. 



As regards subjects of instruction, the most important consideration is that of 

 foreign languages, which must be taught quite differently from hitherto, i.e., first, 

 for their use in reading, writing, and speaking ; secondly, for the discipline they 

 afford. This applies to the teaching in all grades of schools. Next comes instruction 

 in commercial geography, the teachers of which have yet to be trained. This also 

 applies to the teaching in all grades of schools. Then comes the question of com- 

 mercial museums, which should be found in all higher elementary and modern 

 secondary schools. Assistance in the furnishing of these museums should be aflbrded 

 by the Imperial Institute. This institute should do for commercial teaching what 

 the Science Museum, not yet erected, should do for science teachiog throughout the 

 country. In the organisation of such commercial museums for schools of various 

 grades there is a great sphere of usefulness for the Imperial Institute. In the 

 higher elementary schools book-keeping should be taught as a branch of com- 

 mercial arithmetic, and in these and higher schools instruction should be given in 

 the principles of political economy. In our university colleges courses of lectures 

 might be given on various subjects connected with mercantile pursuits. Our evening 

 classes should afford opportunities for practice in speaking and writing foreign 

 languages, and should supply good instruction in commercial arithmetic, book- 

 keeping, shorthand, and commercial geography. If these additions were made to 

 our present means of education, the question of the establishment of special schools 

 of commerce, of courses of application, and of the advantage of introducing ofiice 

 practice, or the bureau commercial, into school-work, might be postponed for 

 subsequent consideration. 



3. Manual Training a Main Feature in National Education. 

 By William Mather, M.Inst.C.E. 



Our national system of public elementary education having reached its full 

 development for present needs, so far as school accommodation and the effect of 

 compulsory attendance are concerned, it becomes of vital importance to the nation 

 to consider: — 



1st. Is the money of the nation being spent to the best advantage P 



2nd. Are the children of school age from five to thirteen receiving such instruc- 

 tion and training as shall best fit them for the occupations of what are termed the 

 working classes, and do the results of the present method of teaching enable parents 

 to select occupations in accordance with the natural proclivities and aptitudes of 

 their children ? Are tbe perceptive and constructive faculties awakened and 

 directed, the desire aroused to pursue productive physical work from the love of it, 

 and with a true sense of its dignity and use ? 



3rd. Is the influence of the teaching in our schools in the formation of 

 character such as to encourage individuality, a sense of responsibility and self- 

 respect, and a desire to pursue knowledge and virtue when the tasks and restraints 

 of school are removed ? 



It is believed by many who, like the writer, are employers of labour, and who 

 come into close relations with the children of the working classes as they pass 

 from school to work, that the present methods of teaching in our public elementary 

 schools do not satisfy the wants of the nation, or do justice to the children who 

 are compelled to attend the public schools. 



That constant progress and improvement have been made in methods of teach- 

 ing since the Education Act of 1871 was passed all will joyfully admit, but the 

 traditional principle has not changed. Memory, rather than the whole mind, is 

 appealed to ; names, dates, facts, grammar, rhetoric, literature, have an un- 

 reasonable share of the school time. The natural sciences, recently introduced 



