LEI THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3044, 3 April 1917, Page 9

LEI THE EDITOR

RAILWAY "CASUALS" Sir, — hi the "Now Zealand Railway •Review," dated September 24,' 1915, ; Iwi read llm following , "A question by j\ir. Sidoy (Dunedm • South) drew the following statement fioni the Uon. Jtr. llcrries, Minister of Raihvajs;' that oasual employees of iiot less than-twelve' months', service are. treated an a gonorous manner by/tho .Railway 'Department.' They enjoy Alio privilege of annual ■ leave, during , .nihich iliey aro gives a-froe pass for .louinevs to be made, etc." ■ Y " Sir,-'if 'this-is'correct, how is.it that-. -.'•. il.io. casuals- working, in' tlio- goods-sheds-at -Wellington havo.to slave for five, years . before- they 'enjoy thoi privilege ot annual leave? •.-There - arc mon work-. : jng; tbore now with - four, - three, "Wo, 1 ■■■ami one Tear's service to .their credit.' jet. im annual, leave for tlieni. All , : 'Other, branches--of-; the'' ■ servicer' erijojK this ■ privilege; why not this? .-• Tile Government-.lntond that they should,for we read: m. the extracts from the Now.'ZealandvGazette, dated 1913,. four years :ago, .that/temporary, .employees after not less- than twelve months' ser- ■ vice shall .lie entitled, to annual leave' with .privileges.; . v;It : lurther'v. states that temporary,; employees, after . three ..months*'' service,-.shall .bo entitled to privilege^tickets, for themselves, wife, Qi housekeeper (as, the ease, may ;be), : Bans: up., to: eighteen; years, .daughters Unmarried. .Sir,• if,-...the.; Government, (intends. these men to enjoy these privileges, why, in common :justice, r are 74hay,.'denied ; thoin? ; - In, the nait ; and xowthey .ha ve .had ;to : work, twelvo \. months-.-boforo ; being;'alloweci a-' privi- , lege:;ticket ) ; ;ind : then only for. them- - selves -and wife. Sir,. I/think -it is alwut- time -that.- wrong- to, .these- -men' righted. -No doubt the heads that be (who, by- the. way, enjov their annual loayo) .rail; .plead that - tile . war 1 W can't, do > it -, but that won't do.- . All leave docs.jiot come together ; ; and: . .1 hope the Hon. iMr. Hornoß will mse iiis mflucnco . with ■ the Railway.partment,- and have .this .wrong- righted without, delay:,;.; Hoping ; that,.' some !, b' e J' mine;,will 'take - this .matter, up,—rl., am, etc., . WORKER

THE ATTITUDE OF AMERICANS

-.■Sir,—ln reference tothe article contributed by ; Mr. Fred Davison to The DcvmuoN of-March 28, I think it'is ■ only 'fair that New Zcalanders should lyavo an opportunity ,of viewing tho . iVmerican ■■ nation • from the r standpoint ■of one who,, although he lived there jcars, is not prejudiced, against the people. I also have-lived amongst the American people, • and resided in the United States for slightly over threo .yeaTs, and .1 always' found the-Ameri-cans accept rt man for worth, and 'jegardless of his nationality. Some ; liased people-would havoothers believe that, the .'Americans are prejudiced -against the. Bmish ; but I havo liever ■found it. ro. ■ The most prejudiced people in the "United Stnt-esare Brit- ■: Jsh emigrants, who were unablo to live in their own. land, and' have resided 1 in .tlio States ffor somo" years', and not tho -American born. >1 departed from: tiro /United States a month orrsix woeh& previous to the.war, and;was residing in- British; Columbia when : tho' war hroko out.•' Iwont .to -Franco' .with 11 the ..Canadian Expeditionary : Forces, and was' fortunate,- or unfortunate (as jou wish), enough to bo wounded. NpwZealanders: will most likely bo surprised to know ;that there are thousands of: -American citizens fighting in-the Canadian, forces/;, Thousands of Americans ,lavc crossed the border into Canada, ahd.igono away with; the Canadian forces,, and they-will continue to do so: I-, know; it. ~ L lived amongst them, . and fought with them. It'is 'becausc of: tho Americans crossing; the border \that -Canada lias bosn- able to do "so j iTell in tho nar .;..Jt,!, seems awfully strango that •;■ I should not have noticcd the hatred of tho children for Britishers. Lam a. citizen of . the British Empire, 'consequently a Britishor, but-I don't remember being hated ;by. the'ehildfon or the grown-ups ; in fact, I'rather.was liked. Most, people-know that in'tho early staged of the war-none of -the Allies could supply themselves with sufficient equipment; artillery, or ammunition, and tliev were very much-pleased-with tho assistance they > received frtim 'America. ... If' America-ha- I>een--an active participant in the war she would have needed all her labour for herself, and .what would we havo done without tho necessary means of defending oursolvos?—l am, etc.\ " : " REGINALD B. "AMADEO.

|;vitntioiis from local Roveming bodiesto attend 'meetings, or by some other •wav to arrange for the celebrations, to be held- on Anznc Day, which, by tho! way, is not tb be' a fixed, feast, but a movable' one. In some places the two previous celebrations were religious m character. Whore (hey wore, many religious leaders and one communion refused to take » part in tk'c.m. In. others, pressure of this sort was.sulficiont to . decide in favour of a mirel.y secular (touioustratioii of our .patriotism, That, is .to say, find was.ieft out as mii"ch'_ as : possible in thought, .and entirely in word,. It is oortr.in that itbe larger part of the awKbuoe 'or. con-, •crcirntion needed to havo tl>«; lesson to. God .for the past and inspiration, for' luc r.vt'nre, brought home to, th.eih.-Jmt K.-cstss* of the faet; ,t hyp •tlwjntvni'ian of God- inio ibe- purview*,.;was.;.pbisctionabl'' to some for 'ih'VT ngnnrticism. and fo 'other* for M.bfir/.supsrJor holinc»»'. ll.e serves • V;< r* turned; into leohin's ••>»! Kpni-l-p? | ; nf ; ,.V purely wnrldly chawi'er. ; To- me-

it •' <.«?!#!! incomnrelier.sible .thitf an.v one. bishop, rn-icnt, or Iv-wan should if, .harmful t<v Hiwlf or'anyone ;ho vr- Tovship of God with. pcorile.-i'V,"!!". onlv -in th?' . :>T,''df'i('r--.' w ' reliEien are thoughtfit. sjifl-.nroprr people W meet, to know and •n»»rroiatf.. socially,. <!s*. by ihv. Surely. religion, if 'anything, should purify.-our .association, not, spoil it: In any .case, to give up thc'Divine aspect, of the;.,oceasioii for' the sake of. a more apparent,,-unity is to exchange the creator for the less. It is intolerable that -.in. all' our (Zfcat occasions and national demonsirutions' people who arefilled: .with the Pharisee sanctity; of Person should deprive us publicans and sinners from joiiiiu;* together in tl.e praise Jand worship of God.. If there is such a-.superior holiness it is not shown by t such doii-iii-the-manger actions. Rven some •of my brother clergy will find it'hard to accept my. position and will feel that to do so is to give up too 'mnc'h.' but for mo' it is ;l;o r.eht attitude ; 'I fcive up nothing, *t>i givo up .'.'my Vail;'.' To tny mind; .in 9 ,I'eart that is the Christ's way. I Impe tl.at after two . and ■ a half years of tvar those whtf .c'are about, tlieso. tliincs uill draw into'line-and see that rofc dishonoured by our uncharitable hypocrisy.—l am, ftc., ;

THE/NATIONAL SYSTEM OF » EDUCATION

Sir, —I read that a deputation of 1 some;sixty persons, including prominent educationists and some'ministers of religion, havo waited on the Minister; of. Bducation to congratulate' him. on. the firm attitude adopted by .■•; him. against ''granting concessions to scptarifliL. schools. His reply pledges him 'to maintain tho national; (or godless) system uniniimired, 'on-/which so many; imjiprtant citizens of the Dominion liavo been reared, and to hand it • on inviolate lost .succceding generations be denied' the - same privileges by 'which they .have ~ grown to greatness. The deputation was informed, that, their news • might be taken to ' represent those of. tho greater part of the Dominion. ,; Be. that as. it may, .there is nevertheless a. yery largo , section,- of people in the Dominion whose views it does not represent, a section too, numerous to be, negligible. It is rather disappointing to find that "prominent" educationists and; ministers of religion (are they , ministers of, tho 'Gospel ?) interpret a national system of education so narrowly ; as to limit it to al State .system of schools: A Stato system of schools - , controlled by a central bureaucracy, erects a certain educational ifleal to which all are expected to conform, and:,lays,' Jown certain paths to reach it along '.which must travel. ■ Educational l standards and'aims must be presumably framed to accord with certain views of tho meaning of . life., and is the whole community prepared to , swallow. , the interpretations of, [the ipeaning ■ and ainis of life , laid- down : by a- sraaljicoterie,. ill. 1 a .central education, bureau? . ': ■ , '. ; . Unless a meaning for life and. tlio aim ofeducation, in relation thereto have been finally settled and generally accepted,. it is .utterly irrational for a State to: attempt to mould.the lines of ajl , its ; citizens according ; to a model fashioned arbitrarily by a limited edu* catioiial. directorate,, ~• ';'■. : The children belong 1 to the State, certainly, . but they .also belong to their . parents aiid to themselves, and it is as certainly the -negation.-of freedom and tlio of 'tlio sacred principle of individuality that the State should stop in and say, "We have da.termiiied the goal of your, living, and you must adopt the methods we prescribe in order that you may reach it." I will .quoto a short passage to, show that there are at least some "promirient"' educationists elsewhero who take a, broader , view, of the scopo of a ' national . svstem of education. The following extract is from: a late book, of npe, of. England's greatest educationists, Professor ■Wilton—'"V/hat.Do W<v, Mean by Education?" "A national

system of education is deruauded-by the very concopt-ol' a nation as an organised body with purposes to bo achiuvcd and a lite to bo lived as a community. A national system of education, howover, is not the same thing as a Statu system of schools, and only through confusion of thought can they bo ideniilied. As education is a spiritual process, a national system of education is in its ossenco a spiritual system: In other words, it is a system of means by which all the spiritual needs of the young in all classes of the community arc adequately met-. Now, it is evident that tlio most complete and elaborato system of -soVoolti provided and controlled' by the State may, in this sense, <:ot ho a national system of education at all, for it may fail to respond to 'ho nation's need for culture and guidaiieo."

The.crucible of war is testing many i.'t!)in,as,. and tried-by this test the educational system of Australia, and Now !'Zealand have been -found wanting. IT'lir-;,- have failed to develop sufficiently r.«rong social sense to secure-any geni eral sacrifice in the hour of the nation's i need. The people, as a whole, havo j !i failed to renounce any of their pleasures and liixxirica, and even the Govi ernment, wliich lias ignominionsly faili'etl to cirouinscribe tho liauor traffic, has I begun to think it is high _time to instil a little compulsory morality and self-, sacrifice into the horse-racing section of tho community. Of two evils choose the less. Horse-racing is worse than beer-drinking, apparently I - No, so - tar from showing any capacity for-sacrifice, thousands in the community are-seiz-ing the opportunity of fattening on their country's disaster, and are buyingj motor-cars and other luxuries hitherto i, tinknown to-them,: with the blood ot ! their feilow-ccmitrymoii shed on the battlefields of Europe. ■ ; No phe in ths community has" any right; to' be. any better off as a result of this world-war. Tried by these results, , the national system of education has failed miserably, to respond to the nation's need for-" culture and guidance. Small wonder; then that there is a section' of tlio people (assumed to to bo' in the minority) who aro looking round for somctliing better. ■, _ ■■ ' ; - . It is rather, entertaining to read in tho'same page as that on uliM there 1 appears the account' of the interview of ■ the doputatioii' with the Minister that a now syllabus of instruction is ia preparation', in which more attention is being paid to . history. It is a notorious tact- that history is liegleetcd as a-: subject' •of study: in - schools, and; a visitor from; Australia a fow days ago in my hearing -asoribed the failure there 'to ,carry conscription largely to, the general ignorance or our Empire and nation's wonderful past, and a consequent lack of pride theroin. That the neglect is equal in New Zealand would seem to he borne out by my: experience in Wellington and Christcnurch, where, in the two schools I have assisted in launching, I' found almost total ignorance of the rudiments of historical knowledge-oni the part of; pupils drawn, from- schools • all; over the. country. * There is, a subject called civics dabbled with that has ' no business to be divorced from history, in. connection. jnrith which alone its subject matter cans bo taught effectively. Now; tile ironical par* of this increased anxiety of the Education Department to,mako up for - its shortcomings in this mattcr is that the teaching ot , history affords- the , finest possible opportunity for political propagandism. that could be wished, -arifl if any prominent' educationist* or minister of religion doubt this, I would commend to him the exposition , of'.tho. possibilities to bo found in a'recent book, : "Studies in Education,"- ' by 'Mr. •- Iteatiuge, Header in Educatioji in the University of'.Oxford. Though, there is no regulation to my knowledge to prevent n teacher placing whatever construction lie chooses on social and political phenomena recorded, in history, ho is carefully, secured against'indulging in any religious propagandismy and . with the ruinous social ideals advocated by particular classes, tho disastrous- results of which have been long apparent,'l would ask whether religious propagandism is the worse evil after all. ■•There! have been plenty of heartsearchings as to whether.wo liave been arriving with our educational,aims and methods, and there seems to be general agreement that something better or different is wanted. I aoe that greater acou'racy of speech, more intelligent reading, greater aocuraby in arithmetic lind a sound knowledge of geography, history, and Nature, study aro to be demanded. If these obvious .fundamentals were being neglected, or illdone before in these enughtoned days, I something: has heen .radically wrong. But to my .mind reforms of this sort only .touch the fringe of the matter. A new spirit informing the whole scheme of education is what is wanted, i a. frank recognition that the training ! of youth is tar mom a spiritual and ari ethical business than sin intellectual one. When men like George Bottomley and Bernard ,Shaw can say that Jesus Christ has not had a chance and the.' experiment ,of'giving him one .might well.be tried.in worldly affairs, it doesn't seem so very grotesque to propose that Ho should have a : chance in our education schemes. He. at any rate, has not been surpassed, aa a teacher of the Social duties of man; Tho very .mon who cry for £he preservation of, the sccularity of the, Education Act aro tho foremost in snooring at a religion which is reserved for Sundays and finds no place in business relations, and yet they would, shut it out of the sohools. They hold up their hands in holy, horror at the Gorman Saturnalia of rapino and murder, but wo shall not fight Gorman ideals and destroy them with .carnal weapons alone. In all the proposals for educational relorra, and reconstruction that havo/appeared during this' war, 1 li'avo not' been able to detect anything fiiat suggests {Eat it is a spiritual awakening 'that 1 is'.our first, hoed. i?0,.w0 are urged • to engage in a, post-war commercial conflict with Germany by using to the full the material., German tools of : tech'nToal training, organisation, find , intlTviflual efficiency for material ends. . In closing, I would quoto one word more from Professor Welton as to how far tho State may go in its public provision for education"The; State should securo that the provision for ' instniotion is suitable an 3 available, [ but ,it should not dictate,'what the schools should- do, regardless of the aspirations -and wishes of tho parents of the pupils and of tho social classes which sond their children to the various types.ol school." It is positively painEul to find.that there are educalbd men in the twentieth century . who aro aware of tho varied aspirations of various sections of the community, and .'who would insist on One.and tho same typo of training for- all iu. tho same t-v-ne of institution. —Tours, etc., S.R.DICKINSON. St., Andrew's College. Christchurch, March. 30.