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land and Wales, which points out the need of giving right direction to> 

 the activity and intelligence of children, especially in the earlier stages 

 of the school life. The priuciple is accepted that one of the chief aims 

 of education should be to train the scholar to acquire knowledge for 

 himself by observation and experiment. I his power, it is observed, so 

 far from being developed, is actually stunted and suppressed when the 

 scholar is treated as " the passive recipient of instruction". Danger 

 thus arrives that, the natural activity of the mind being deadened, the 

 child will leave school " with healthy interests unawakened, and with 

 the faculty of accurate and independent observation still untrained." 

 The Committee of Council on Education have, therefore endeavoured to 

 encourage "a more living form of Education," by means of teaching 

 designed to cultivate the habit of observation and the further use of the 

 various powers of expression. The Committee are glad to think that 

 H deftness of hand, correctness of eye, power with the pencil and brush, 

 the study of actual objects at first hand and the habit of using the 

 faculty of intelligent observation, have all become in recent years a 

 more important part of the educational aim of our elementary schools'^ 

 Not merely because training of this kind prepares the scholar for 

 acquiring practical dexterity in his future calling, but also for higher 

 reasons, the department has approved the introduction of such training 

 in various forms, into the curriculum of Elementary Schools. 



VI. POPULAR LECTURES. 



The popular lectures given by Mr. Cradwick have been much 

 appreciated and there is no doubt that veiy great good is being done 

 in this way. In order that I may have the means of extending this 

 useful work, I would recommend that an Assistant Superintendent be 

 appointed for Hope Gardens at a salary of £100 to £130 a year with 

 house. 



I could in this way utilize Mr. Cradwick's experience at Hope when 

 he is not actually engaged in lecturing, and at the same time spare him 

 for lecturing to a very much greater extent than I now can. 



I append his reports to me written directly after the completion of the 

 lectures, containing, as they do vivid impressions of the need of the 

 people for such instruction, and their anxiety to help themselves if they 

 are only shown how to do it. 



Reports by Mr. W, Cradwick, Superintendent of Hope Gardens, on 

 lectures delivered on the cultivation and curing of agricultural 

 products. 



Brandon Hill District. 

 On Wednesday the 19th February I visited t,he Brandon Hill 

 District. 



About 30 adults attended the lecture and demonstration, and as is 

 usually the case, several of these evinced the keenest interest in the 

 subjects dealt with, minutely observing the methods of pruning, curing, 

 etc., explained to them. 



Coffee, Cocoa, and Canes are the chief products of the district. The 

 two former are well adapted to the district, usually growing well, but 

 as the people themselves realize now, they do not bear anything like 

 the crops they might from the want of proper pruning. 



