THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1882. THE EXHIBITION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2435, 25 January 1882, Page 3

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1882. THE EXHIBITION.

“ There ia nothing that succeeds like success,” and Messrs. Joubert and Twopeny having turned the corner of their difficulties, and having sailed into comparatively smooth waters, things appear to be going pretty easily with them. Both the City Council and the Industrial Association are now apparently anxious to strain every nerve to aid the affair, and unless some very unforeseen accident occurs, the Exhibition in April should be as signal a success as were its predecessors in Adelaide and Perth. The stops the Council and the Association are taking, with a view of obtaining the presence in Lyttelton of the British and other war-ships in these waters, will do much towards attracting the public, for a Hoot of men-of-war is no small sight in itself. Moreover, tho presence of jacktars of several nations will lend an agreeable diversity to the general effect. Exhibitions in the antipodes will always labor under one groat disadvantage. The advent of foreigners of all descriptions to , see any Exhibition hold in Europe is ' one of the most entertaining features in j the show. In such exhibitions as those ( of ’sl or ’62 in London, or the later ones j of Paris and Vienna, the mixture of j nations in the building presented a < curious and interesting effect. Parsees, j Chinese, Japanese, Armenians, and indi- x viduals from other outlandish places were t seen jostling with the London cockney and the Parisian flaneur. It was im- J possible to be five minutes in the building without having come to tho conclusion j arrived at by a certain humble philosopher * “ that the world is made up of a deal of 1 sorts.” One, to a certain extent, oh- . tained the benefits of travelling without t the attendant exertion; it was, indeed, 0 more or less of a liberal education, apart altogether from the exhibits. We can- j; not, of course, expect to draw to our Exhibition such a motley crowd as any of the g ones alluded to; but we can, at least, do o our best to attract to our show all the roving particles of entertaining and j instructive matter that may bo floating v in this part of tho world. Men- l o£-war—English, French, and Russian— j will add agreeable diversity to the 8 attractiveness of the Exhibition. With c their aid the local coloring will be considerably brightened, and we shall cor- t tainly welcome both officers and men f with a hearty hospitality and pleasure. £ Whether a few potentates could not be , allured to the spot is a matter which o might be turned over. King Tawhiao, t being in a friendly mood, might perhaps j; be induced to come down and let off £ some fireworks with his own kingly B hands. Then there are other grandees t from the Fijis, Tongas and other islands, where potentates are as thick as black- c berries. Were they to put in an appear- j ance in full war paint the tone of the j Exhibition would he still further height- g enod. There is no knowing what might c not be done under skilful management. J These sort of people are said to he 8 wonderfully affable when rubbed the right r way. B OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM. J In reading over the reports of the various meetings held for electing school com- li mittees what will strike the reader will | be the frequent complaints made against the centralising tendencies of the present j system. Where there is so much smoke a there must he some fire, and we are in- a clined to believe that the feeling is j spreading that some change will have to j, be made ere long ia the direction of t decentralisation. The central and vital n point of the present system is the Local 8 Committee, and anything that tends to impair the efficiency or to slacken the j zeal of these bodies is, to our mind, \ to be carefully avoided. But many c of these bodies are not satisfied ’ with their position. Not only have 1 they not enough power, but tho t clogging influences of red tape hinder G them in the free exercise of the powers c which they in reality possess. The * soundest principle to go on is for the g various Boards to act as a cheque on the Local Committees while the Central - Department, as it were, focusses the whole * system. Local Committees are some- ■ times prejudiced, and sometimes are not B made up of such rich material as they I might he. Again, too, teachers require < protection against local authority. But ‘ the general idea should he that as much as possible should he loft to the Local j Committee, that tho Local Committee, and I not the Board or the Central Department, 1 is the unit from which to start. The great 1 success of tho common school system in ths \ United States has been principally due to the recognition of the principle of local 1 management. The Federal Government is kept altogether in the background in ; the matter of education. By adhering to the principle of local management a latitude, a spring and a vitality is given to the way in which education is managed that cannot be obtained in any other way. A hard and fast centralisation kills local interest. As to the amount of extra work it entails on masters it is hardly necessary to refer. Centralisation lives on returns and tables of figures. We certainly think Local Committees are very wise in keeping their eyes open and speaking up respecting their own privileges and rights. THE ALL ENGLAND MATCH. The All England match is now a thing of the past, and our local cricketers are left to digest the lesson they hare received as best they may. The uses of adversity are proverbially sweet, so that no doubt they will, on the one hand, draw much that is good for themselves out of their late beating, as, on the other hand, they will be sure to take it in perfect good part. One of the lessons that should impress itself on their mind is as to the general neglect exhibited in Canterbury with regard to the fielding department. Tho Canterbury fielding is always a weak point, and yet time after time no determined effort is made to rectify it when teams are got up to play big matches. In the present instance, although the advent of tho Englishmen was expected for weeks and weeks, yet no regular fielding practices were ever held, and the lamentable consequence i was that not a single catch into the long field was held. And this is the more curious because the eighteen was chosen with a view to having a good sot of men in the field, but it was thought apparently that all practice was unnecessary, at least the amount of fielding practice that did eventuate was almost infinitesimal. _ However, our cricketers will have time to foiTifr ever this point and several others

before another assemblage of cricketing notables puts in an appearance. Perhaps next time we shall be more Incky, and, at all events, if wo take our lesson properly to heart, we shall deserve, even if we do not obtain, success.