View report page

246
If all this can be accomplished in a building such as we have now at our disposal
with what great confidence can we look forward to the time, when with increased
accommodation and appliances we shall be able to greatly increase the very useful
work we are performing.
The attendance during the year has been well maintained.
Many of the pupils have been successful in obtaining Artisan Scholarships.
ELECTRICAL FITTING CLASS.
Instructor Mr. W. H. MERN.
This class is conducted by Mr. Mern, and although the numbers have been very
low, considering the great importance of such a class in our midst, the attendance has
been on the whole very good.
The falling off in attendance, is I think, due to the fact that many of those
attending have covered the ground they intended to cover, and have learned all they
wished to know, rather than to the advent of summer weather.
I would suggest that with the Committee's sanction, this class should be made a
little more constructive. This would involve a little expenditure in tools, but I think
the advantages would adequately repay it, for after all said and done, wiring in itself is
rather monotonous and uninteresting work.
On the theoretical side, although the instructor has endeavoured to make the subject
as simple and interesting as posssible, yet it is found that with the exception of one or
two students even the simplest formulas are too difficult for them to grasp. There is
no doubt that scarcity of apparatus has led to apathy and a want of interest in this
direction.
I think that if the constructive element were introduced and made to go
hand in hand with the theoretical side, not giving an undue prominence to the
scientific side, then the necessary interest would be awakened.
Some of the pupils are employed in Electrical work, and I find them much
behind the times in workshop practice. If it were possible to introduce the subject on
the lines of our Woodcarving classes then the instruction would be much more beneficial.
After all, the time, for a subject of this description, is very short, and 2½ hours is
soon gone.
I should suggest that the class be divided into two parts, taken on separate
evenings, one being devoted to the Theoretical side, and the other to the Practical.