The chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5,1918. REFORM AND THE RIMUTAKA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 August 1913, Page 2

The chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5,1918. REFORM AND THE RIMUTAKA.

When a railway train crawls over the Riinulaka incline the tail end sometimes runs at right angles to the engine. Some recent development ;m;! changes in polities show similarly acute contrasts. There was (he Bay of Island- member especially: and now conies the ex-radical sawmills advocaie from Southland, blossoming as an organiser for the Reform League! When Mr David Jones comes forward as an advocate for the Reform Party we see no incongruity: that has been his consistent altitude. But the latest recruit ! ".M r Arthur A. Paape (we read in The Dominion) at present organisingl secretary for the Sports Protection League, ha been appointed organiser f'oi the Reform League." We are reminded oix-e again of the Rimuiaka incline. SPRING AND Till-; DAIRY Around Beaconsfield district t hesigns of spring are apparent. The beautiful wattle bloom is in great profusion everywhere, and all Nature points to an ...li.lv 11 j>i■i i> tv (wi'Jlchi (lie ri-pre-seiitaiive ol (ear eoiileniporarv. The Ecilding Star). Da in tanners, as well as spring poets, are commencing to ge( quite busy. There are any amount of young calves about, and the ('heltcnham cream cart picks up a lair quantity of cream twice a week. Although the iced is pretty short higher up the Y alley, all stock seems to be in a healthy condition, and a good season is anticipated. Young lambs are also making their appearance about here. Several farmers who top-dress-ed their land with, basic slag last yeai' are extremely satisfied with the results produced, and large areas are being treated by progressive farmers again this year. Levin, 100, shares in this genera) quickening and verdure: and (he spring poets are in (lie field. The Arapaepae l'oad poet has favoured us with a bucolic about roses and gold : irom a wooer of the muse and hewer of the matai in Shannon we have a well written it unseasonable dirge: and no doubi there will be others. So they be bright, let (hem all come !

THE J)I1?E(T()]! UE PHYSICAL IXSTl;ujtkl\. Although some of the outcry raised in the House of lleprcseniatives Jasf week was due to parly feeling', there is 110 doubt that, in appointing a mere drill instructor to Hie highly-paid position of Director of Physical Instruction, the .Minister of Education has inflicted a grievous wrong on 'i\e\v Zealand teachers. Education is divided into three departments of almost equal importance: the mental, moral, and physical. Every teaclier who qualifies for his profession must understand the requirements of these three brandies. Although, the mental aspect of the subject receives most prominence with the majority of teachers, there are many enlightened and highly qualified men throughout the dominion who have gone deeply into tlie question of physical

education in all its branches— not merely from the point of view of muscular development. \\ r liy were these passed over!"' Why were they never even given a chalice to advance their claimsY The .Minister must have had great confidence in the timidity and helplessness ot the teaching profession when he thus glaringly insulted them. It seems incredible that the lion. Tames Allen should havr done this great injustice unless under pressure from one or other of his colleagues. This 'drill instructor has been appointed to take charge of practically one third of the education of New Zealand. One third of the power and responsibility of the Education Board inspectors has been wiped out, and the control of schools and .sjalVs by Education Boards has "m'on very seriously interfered with. Surely it was nccessarj in a question dealing with the future health and welfare of all the children of the colony to get the best man that could be got and not to ake he first gymnasium keeper who happened to be a friend of a ministerY The salary (i'OOU a year) may lie regarded as by no means too j large for the position : but it I shows the very great contempt with which .Ministers regard the profession of education, when they pay a man who, as far as we know, can teach only one subject, a salary wlicli begins where those of chief inspectors and principals of training colleges leave oil'! Again, a number of subsidiary instructors have been appointed at salaries much above the average one paid to qualified teachers, to do work that the most humdrum teacher could do with a week or two of training. The fact of the mat-, ler is that the craze lor physical culture, for which Sandow's visit to New Zealand is largely responsible, is dying down : and those who have been benefiting by it, those of them who can make sufficient interest for themselves in the proper quarter. are being saddled on to the taxpayer to the det rimeiit of the legitimate teachers of the colony. No wonder that teachers' salaries are not going to lie raised this year! was the concise summing up of the case mad' 1 !o The Chronicle by one cynical observer of some recent happenings.