April 20.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1073

The relative rapidity with which, or the order in which, pebbles, sand, and clay are deposited may be observed from experiment, or from the action that takes place in a pool, in a small stream, or by cutting a section with a spade through the sediment left in a large puddle (the section, of course, should be cut when the water has run off or evaporated); or experiments might be made in the playground, or with a wooden tray and clay, sand, and shingle, as suggested in Standard II.

A fairly complete study should be made of some river known to the class or to most of the individuals in it; comparison should then be made between this river and two or three other rivers in New Zealand, and also, if pictures can be obtained, between the given river and, say, one river in each of the great continents.

The children could then infer from the map of New Zealand the general slope of the surface, and could construct rough relief maps of the North and of the South Island. The same process might be applied in a general way to the continents, of which, also, very rough relief maps could be made.

The process of evaporation should be demonstrated practically—first, rapid evaporation, as when water is boiled; next, slow evaporation, as of a small quantity of water in a saucer in front of a fire, or in the sunshine, or even anywhere in comparatively dry air; next, the formation of vapour clouds, the deposit of water on cold surfaces, the formation of dew, &c.

Plans of the playground may again be drawn, and distances and areas calculated therefrom. This should be followed by the drawing of more extensive and more accurate plans of the district around the school than have been made in Standards II. and III.; the rough measurement of distances might be computed therefrom.

The following work may be done either in this class or in Standard V.: By means of an upright stick, post, or block, the children might be taught to find the altitude to the nearest degree of the sun, at noon at the equinoxes (in 1904, 21st March and 23rd–24th September), and at the solstices (in 1904, 22nd June and 22nd December); to note approximately the length of day and night, checking their observations by reference to the times of sunrise and sunset as given in any almanac.

Some very useful work might be done in the direction of the discovery by the children from their observations of the nature of the movements of the earth and of its form. It would, for instance, be quite possible for children at this stage to be taught to recognise a few of the brightest stars, to notice that those in the northern sky, on any given evening, seem to be moving from right to left, and that the Southern Cross seems to be turning round in the same direction as the hands of a clock. Hence, by a general but simple inference, they might be led to the idea of the daily rotation of the earth. There should be no attempt to hurry the process; there should be observations taken by the children themselves during the winter months, and the conclusion should be formulated when their minds are ready for it.

If an eclipse of the moon visible in New Zealand occurs, the opportunity should not be missed of showing the children, by lessons beforehand upon shadows, and lessons afterwards upon what was seen during the eclipse, what is really for children probably the best proof of the earth’s rotundity.

Standard V.

(a.) The scale of the wall-map of New Zealand used in the school compared with the scale of the map of the district; the scale of the map of New Zealand in an atlas or geographical reader. A few distances may be computed from the map of New Zealand, and also, roughly, the areas of the North and South Islands, and of the whole colony. Either in this standard or in Standard VI. the process may be extended so as to give clear ideas as to the distance of New Zealand from Australia, Fiji, &c.; the extent and area of Australia, &c. First ideas (to be further extended in Standard VI.) about glaciers and the work of ice; the sea and its work; tides; winds and currents; coasts, rocky and otherwise; capes. General distribution of land and water on the surface of the globe; the land hemisphere; the water hemisphere. The mountain and river systems, in outline, of some one continent.

(b.) Mathematical geography: See Standard VI. (b), Mathematical geography.

Standard VI.

(a.) The scale of maps generally, illustrated by some one or two maps, as of England, Australia, India; distances and areas computed therefrom; a few distances measured on the globe. Ice; experiments with