JUNIOR COMMERCIAL EXAMINATION, 1904.

A. Compulsory Subjects.

i. The following candidates passed in the four Compulsory Subjects:

ii Of the above, the following passed with credit.

1. In Commercial Arithmetic.

Marion Molloy, ; 2 Amy C. Small, F. Tymons, and Margaret S. Yuill-(equal)

2. In Commercial Geography.

1 Amy C Small and Arthur D. Venn-(equal); 3 Archibald T. Dewar and Lavington J. Glyde-(equal); 5 Marion Molloy.

3. In Bookkeeping.

1 Philip J. Keddie, 2 Arthur D. Venn.

4.. In Business Correspondence. 1 Amy P. Davis, 2 Amy C. Small.

a.

b.

c.

B. Additional Subjects.

1. Shorthand,

At the rate of 120 words per minute: Arthur D. Venn,

At the rate of 100 words per minute: Amy P. Davis, Marion Molloy, Herbert H. S. Temperly.

At the rate of 80 words per minute: Lavington J. Glyde, James M. Biggs.

Amy P. Davis, Lavington J. Glyde, Marion Molloy, and F. Tymons, -(equal.)

Passed:

Archibald T. Dewar, Harold J. Finnis, Duncan Fraser, Philip J. Keddie, Norman C. Ryder, Amy C. Small, Herbert H. S. Temperly, Arthur D. Venn, Gordon T. Williams, John G. Wilson, Margaret S.

Yuill.

NOTES BY EXAMINERS.

Primary Examination.

Primary English.

General remarks and advice have so frequently been given about the work presented in this subject that this year it is enough to select from the notes of the examiners on the answers to the several questions.

The examiner who read all the answers to Questions 5, 6, and 7, says: The analysis was well done as a rule, but about 50 per cent. of the candidates made the adverbial clause a principal one; I suppose because it came first. Only about 15 per cent. showed any power of finding the errors in question 7, and only the same number noticed the case of the single test word among the few set for parsing. If, as the secretary tells me, the average age of the candidates is about 15, the results are certainly below the intelligence of what might be expected.

The examiner who read the other answers says: Question 1 was fairly well answered by many of the candidates. There was much diversity of opinion as to whether wind is an abstract noun. One defined an abstract noun as "a noun that you can never feel, hear, or smell, and it can never talk." Question 2 was correctly answered by most of the candidates, but, of course, there were some absurdities, e.g., that the possessive of Ross the baker is "Rosses bakery", and of grocers "groceries". The second part of the question was badly answered. Question 4 was well answered by only about a dozen of the candidates. Many did not attempt it; others emphasized their confusion, writing, e g., "The site that met their eyes was terrible", "I can cite the vessel coming up the harbour", "He was imminent in his own country", "He was in eminent danger of his life." The spelling was on the whole good, with the exception of the excusable words rhinoceros and dahlia.

The majority of the essays were poor. In many instances sentences having no meaning were used, such as "Trees are the most majestical and most stately of human nature", "There are numerous numbers of different kinds of trees", "Trees are enjoyable even by the careless".

Primary Geography.

The papers on the whole showed a distinct improvement on those of last year, though there is still much room for improve

ment.

Many of the mistakes to which attention has been called in previous reports are repeated this year. It was the rule rather than the exception for candidates to state that rivers flowed from the mouth towards the source. The points of the compass and their conventional representation on maps were very imperfectly understood. Most candidates showed an utter lack of sense of proportion in their answers, both as regards size and importance. These are very serious mistakes, and teachers are strongly advised to pay special attention to the points indicated. More especially they should endeavour to impress upon their pupils the interrelation of the various physical features of a country; and the dependence of economic questions, such as the sites of towns, location of railways, etc., upon the configuration of the land. By this means they will convert Geography from a mere mass of cram" into a subject of great educational value. Others points which should be carefully taught are the points of the compass, the meaning and value of lines of latitude and longitude ou maps, and especially the importance of the scale to which the map is drawn. With regard to the individual questions, those on Australasian geography were fairly well answered on the whole, with the exception of the map drawing. The latter was extremely bad, and much more attention should be paid to this very important and highly educative part of the subject. The maps submitted by West Australian candidates are free from the above condemnation; they were almost all excellent, and their uniformly good quality is sufficient answer to the objection which is sometimes raised against questions of this character.

Primary History.

In this subject 813 presented themselves for examination, of whom 598 passed. The result may therefore be considered satisfactory.

To explain the general defects of the papers would involve a repetition of much that has already been stated in the reports for 1902 and 1903. It is still necessary to emphasize the need for more exact knowledge. In most cases the map was drawn very imperfectly. Wolsey was described by one as a man "severe and stern looking who could be nasty at times." The amount of

work set for the Primary is History is small, and it is therefore reasonable to expect fidelity in detail.

It is pleasing to notice that irrelevant narrative was avoided in most cases, and in the better papers some judgment in the selection of facts was displayed.

Candidates are not expected to show facility for expression, but some of the composition was very unsatisfactory, such as "the king little knew how he would make the people believe a different belief from the one he beliefed." Considerable improvement might be effected by warning candidates against degeneration into such colloquialisms as "the poor old Britons could not fight", "heaps of people were thrown out of work." Teachers and candidates are referred to the Reports for 1902 and 1903 for further general comments that may be helpful.

Primary Greek.

Six candidates presented themselves for examination. Of these four passed and two failed.

On the whole the work done was good. The main rules of accentuation were observed, but there was a tendency to confuse the breathings. The grammar of those who passed was careful and accurate, but the vocabulary was, even for so early a stage, deficient.

Primary Latin.

In this examination the number of candidates was almost the same as in the previous year, but the percentage of those who reached the requisite standard was appreciably smaller. Many candidates, catching sight of a word or form that was unfamiliar, made no attempt at rendering sentences quite simple in themselves. Many more were content with a translation which was neither English nor sense. Candidates should remember that what is meaningless in English cannot possibly be the correct translation of the Latin. Several of the better papers gave evidence of a sound grip of principles and an ability to think out the meaning in translation, which was, unfortunately, rare.

Primary German.

Of 31 papers examined in the Primary Division, three were well-nigh faultless, and two were complete failures. The majority showed fair mastery of the ordinary forms of German accidence as illustrated in the prescribed text book. But some half dozen papers indicated that the writers had no acquaintance whatsoever