419
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ference :-
C.O. 885
8
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE.] BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-—--NOT TO
6
to the Evening Continuation Schools, free of charge. We generally keep from thirty to forty sets in circulation throughout the country from October to March, and as far as I am able to gather, the slides are used at least, in the aggregate, on some fifteen hundred occasions each season.
This policy has led, to my knowledge, to the purchase by the local school author- ities, in a great many instances, of sets of lantern slides, and has done not a little to stimulate generally the adoption of visual instruction by such means.
With a view also of supplementing the very inadequate school Geography Readers, which have been and are still, I regret to say, used in this country, dealing with the Colonies in general, and with Canada in particular, the Canadian Government, through the Department of the Interior, have instructed this Office for several years to place supplies of handbooks at the disposal of teachers for class use and in this way many hundreds of thousands of copies have been in circulation, and hundreds of letters are received regularly every year asking for the renewal of such literature.
In the same way many hundred copies of a large map of Canada have been pre- sented to the schools in the United Kingdom.
A novel attempt was adopted last year, by direction of the Minister of the Interior, in order to fix Canada on the minds of the children, by the issue of a special copy book (see enclosure) in which the texts set for copying were of an Imperial and Canadian character. Half a million copies of this publication were offered to the schools, and were readily disposed of.
Efforts have also been made from time to time to encourage a closer study of Canada and to test the knowledge possessed by the children of the subject. For this purpose essay competitions have been arranged, for which any school was entitled to enter, a prize being offered to each school so entering. In 1901 and 1902 the prizes given were in the form of bronze medals (copies of which I am enclosing), and the results obtained have been of a singularly happy character. I would refer you to the accompanying issue of an educational paper entitled the "Teacher's Aid," which published last October a special supplement giving a full account of these compe- titions, as well as a list of the names of the successful medallists in the competition held this year. I should add that a descriptive text book of Canada, specially written by a prominent Canadian educationalist, and a small school atlas- copies herewith were issued by the Canadian Government, free of charge, for the use of children entering for these competitions, and on the whole some quarter of a million copies of each publication were issued to the competing pupils, and as presentations to schools which were taking up the subject " Canada " in their geography course during those two years.
A great deal also has been done through the medium of this Office in drawing the attention of the publishers of the Geography Readers used in the United Kingdom to the shortcomings of these publications both in the matter of information about Canada, and as to the misleading character of the majority of the illustrations employed. The Government have undertaken to revise all such Readers so far as the Canadian sections are concerned, without charge, and to supply photographs for illustrations thoroughly representative of Canadian life and progress of to-day. The same offer has been made by the Canadian Government respecting maps of Canada published in this country. am glad to be able to say that many publishers but by no means all-are taking advantage of these proposals, and I am hopeful that within a short time the children will have at least the opportunity of acquiring an up-to-date and adequate knowledge of Canada of to-day and of its importance as the greatest heritage of the Empire.
In conclusion, I cannot help thinking that it is a grave reflection on the edu- cational system in this country that no control seems to be exercised by the Educa- tional Department with regard to the text books that are used in the elementary schools, above all, in so important a matter as the geography of the Empire.
I am quite sure that I am only re-echoing the feelings and wishes of all Canadians and of my fellow colonists elsewhere, in expressing the hope that with the influence of the Rt. Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies means may be taken to secure special prominence being given in future to instruction in this subject even beyond that which it would receive from an abstract educational point of view. For in this way alone will it be possible to educate and to impress upon the minds of the rising
generation an adequate sense of the growth and importance of the British Empire as a whole, and of the first claims which it should have throughout life
their con- sideration and practical patriotism.
52167
upon
I am, &c.,
STRATHCONA,
High Commissioner.
No. 10.
THE AGENT-GENERAL FOR NATAL to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received December 19, 1902.)
SIR,
26, Victoria Street, Westminster, S. W., December 18, 1902. In reply to your letter of the 11th instant,* No. 49577/02, making enquiries whether visual instruction as to the United Kingdom and British Empire generally is given to pupils in the Natal schools, I have the honour to inform you that in the Government schools of the Colony there is a recognised system of visual instruction by means of lantern slides and objects illustrating the resources, industries and com- merce of the Empire.
No steps have been taken through this office to introduce similar instruction with regard to the conditions of life in Natal into the schools of this country. I have, however, a number of lantern slides which I occasionally lend for purposes of lectures to school children and others.
Personally I am of opinion that this method of education is one which would prove most effectual.
• No. 1.
I have, &c.,
W. PEACE,
Agent-General.
I
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