Dec. 14.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 3217

does not preclude writing and memorizing the results. The children by the end of their second year should know automatically the combination of any two digits. It will be noticed that in Class II the multiplication tables to 2 times 12 and in Class IV to 12 times 12, are prescribed. These tables should be first built up practically and each result memorized as ascertained. There is no necessity to memorize the results consecutively—or, in other words, to be able to say the tables through.

The buying and selling operations (Class III and following) should be done practically with coins (cardboard), but, as noted before, the results should be written down, thus laying a foundation for the later written work. Only two denominations should be used at the same time, and operations involving reduction, as well as the four rules, should be practised.

In Class IV the work may be somewhat more formal, but should never deal with amounts beyond the comprehension of the pupils. The application of the work to problems should be made only where the nature of the problem, which should be eminently practical, is thoroughly understood.

In Class V measuring and weighing are required. This again should be practical, and the remarks concerning buying and selling apply as strongly here. Use only the measures in common use, viz., ounce, pound, hundredweight, ton, inch, foot, yard, chain, mile.

The work of Class VI is merely an extension of that required for Class V. The work should be more formal. By the end of the year pupils should be able to perform any of the simple calculations necessary for trading purposes—to weigh goods and calculate their values, as well as to measure distances. Long involved sums with denominate numbers are not required. No one outside a schoolroom has ever been required to multiply 16 tons, 3 cwt. 1 qr. 16 lb. 13 oz. 12 dr. by 654, or to divide 465 miles 6 fur. 5 ch. 11 yd. 2 ft. 8 in. by 736; but many have been required to find 25 times 3 cwt. 16 lb., or ¼ of 7 ft. 8 in. Remember, there is no time for teaching in school accomplishments that will not function in after-life. Teachers who remember this will not be bound by any arithmetic text-book yet published, but will plan their own work. Neither will they use arithmetic for the purpose of keeping the children quiet while they attend to other classes.

The arithmetic lessons should always be short and intensive. In the lower classes, Preparatory to Class II, they should never exceed twenty to thirty minutes.

GARDENING AND NATURE-STUDY.

Though it is considered inadvisable to lay down a maximum or a minimum time-limit for gardening operations, it is felt that in the upper classes at least the importance of the subject demands that it, and such allied subjects as nature-study and handicraft, should occupy at least one-third of the pupils’ school time; and, further, that, where possible, the work in English, arithmetic, and drawing should be closely correlated with gardening and manual occupation.

The gardening operations should not be confined to the older children, but should be shared by all from the first entry into the school. The smaller children will find profitable employment in tending each a little plot, weeding, watering, and generally caring for some plant or plants. By these means, as well as by keeping and tending pets, it is possible to cultivate a reverence for living things—such a reverence as will in time correct the present callous disregard.

The greatest success in inculcating a bias towards agricultural occupations will be achieved only when the teachers systematically enlist the co-operation of the pupils, and such co-operation will never be enlisted so long as the teachers assume the role of mere taskmasters. The pupils should be taken into the teachers’ confidence in the planning and designing of the grounds, in determining the crops to be raised, and generally in the conduct of the garden. For this purpose the formation of committees of the older children has been found very successful.

While much may be done by a system of rewards and regulated rivalry between individuals and between classes, activities that result from co-operation and an intrinsic interest in the work undertaken have a far more lasting effect and a greater moral value. If teachers will only be guided by the principle that the