✨ Education Report
245
formation of School or District Libraries.
From the difficulty that has already been experienced by the promoters of such libraries in procuring a suitable supply of books, it has been suggested that the Board could in no way better promote the establishment of libraries in the rural districts than by procuring from Britain a large assortment of strongly bound and suitable books, from which selections could be made by the different Library Committees. By this arrangement, the Board would be enabled to give to each district an equivalent in suitably bound and well-selected books, instead of the money authorised by the Ordinance. I have already remarked that our district schools can at best furnish only a foundation upon which the whole subsequent life must erect a superstructure. It appears to me that in no way could the Board more effectively and satisfactorily complete the good work proposed to be begun in our district schools than by encouraging the formation of well-selected school or district libraries in connection with our system of public school instruction. When so much is proposed to be done to teach the art of reading, it would be well not to stop here, but to offer every facility for the establishment of those institutions which would tend to foster and extend the habit of reading, which multitudes can never be said to have acquired, chiefly from want of access to such stores of knowledge. A highly efficient scheme of national education has been in operation in Canada for several years, and the system of district libraries engrafted on the public schools of the colony is represented to have been attended with very beneficial and gratifying results. Lord Elgin is reported to have said in a public address in 1854—“Our township and county libraries are becoming the crown and glory of the institutions of the Province.”
Certificates of Qualification.
In the course of the past year several candidates for schools made application for the certificate of qualification required by the Ordinance. In two cases where candidates submitted themselves for examination, I considered it my duty to decline granting the required certificate on account of their want of sufficient scholarship. I have granted full certificates of qualification to Mr Lewis, of N.E. Harbor, Mr. Douglas of Waihola, and Mr. Halliwell of South Dunedin. To another teacher I have given only a conditional certificate, to be exchanged for a full certificate upon his undergoing successfully a year’s probation as a teacher in one of the public schools. Mr. Paradise, formerly of Akaroa, who has been appointed to the school at Oamaru, is in possession of a certificate from H. M. Committee of Council on Education.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your very obedient servant,
JOHN HISLOP,
Inspector of Schools.
Next Page →
Otago Provincial Gazette 1862, No 217
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🎓
Report of the Inspector of Schools for the year ended 30th September, 1862
(continued from previous page)
🎓 Education, Culture & Science10 October 1862
Schools, Education, Otago, Dunedin, Inspector, Attendance, Roads, Registers, Libraries, Certificates
- Lewis (Mr), Granted full certificate of qualification
- Douglas (Mr), Granted full certificate of qualification
- Halliwell (Mr), Granted full certificate of qualification
- Paradise (Mr), Appointed to Oamaru school, possesses certificate
- JOHN HISLOP, Inspector of Schools