WELLINGTON NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1923, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES

Till’ EDUCATION SYSTEM. SO MR OF ITS DEFECTS. [Si'ecial To The Guardian.] WELLINGTON. Oct. 6. The Hon C. J. Parr did well in summoning the school inspectors to AYellington for a heart to heart di-cussiou of the :t l l l itiiti-Iritti- 111 of the education system of the Dominion. The inspectors, above all people, should know where defects in the system exist and .should he prepared with suggestions for tlicit" removal. Judging from the reports ~g the pr-.v e lings ;g the conference bet ween the Minister and the - rsponsible officers of Ids Department, they were b\ no tneatis Laekwaril in espressing their views on a number of matters that tire ol impoitanee to the country. That children should not he kept too long in tlm infant classes and iliac h- -;-i!-tn:, -a •-s ■ imiiid do t ltei r fair share ot ela-s work are . om-ln-hm--1 hat ought to have been reached long , g,i. lint it i- eum-eic able that children might be hili'T.".) through the ttiI'aai classes far ton rapidly and that head-ma.sici s by loading themselves with detail work might he left with insufficient time for the discharge ol their still more important duties. The public .schools cannot make social distinctions between their pupils, but some children are less fortunate than oiiie;s in their home surroundings and to the.se a service is due from the Stale which no head-master with any time on his hands well could supply. LESSONS IN CO-OPERATION. The negotiations for tho sale of the works and business of Lite Poverty Bay Farmers’ Company tu Yeslys, the great meat operators with ramifications all over (he world, have loosened the tongues of many gossips who profess to know all about the matter and to understand its signilicanee. First of all there is the familiar story of the inevitable failure of the fanners to manage successfully business nlfairs. Poverty Bay has hut added its quota to the long list of similar experiences in other districts. The late of its latest business enterprise certainly lias urn enhanced I lie reputation of the fainter as a commercial expert. Then the opponents of the ■'Butter Pool" see in the readiness of the -Meat Board to hand over to a great combine ihc interests of the stork o" net's an alarming indication of ihc kind of ireaiment the butler and cheese producers! may expect from the Dairy Board. II i Yestys are in have a free run with New j Zealand meal. those critics ask, why should nut they or some other combine have a tree run with New Zen-! land butter and choose? And so on I and so on ad inllnilum. Every idle j person in the city has views on the: posit ion in express. j Till.’ OFFICIAL VIEW. What mnv be regarded as an ollioial-j lv inspired piennunccmcnt on the sit-; nation app.-nrs in the editorial columns: of the “Dominion.” Aftci referring L. tin protests ~f ihe shareholders of j lit.' company against |heir property he- ; ing handed ever in a i-eii, cm mainly | iutcres 1 ci! in inducing ihc prices: of si tick, the paper remind' them ol the! necessities of tie" posit'oil. “Til.' (’act j tlm: 'Vrs-.y.Y i -. otv of I lie most power-1 ful meat organi-alimis in the world, i w ith far reaching 1 a milieat huts,” ti j

says, “naturally may lie- regarded as giving some colour in the pails of iiie. Poverty Bay Company's .'lmivlmlders. t td’ori unatcly for them, however, the only ground on vhirh they ajipear to have justilie.it ion for calling on Ihc

G.ivei-nmcul to ini- il.o,■ mi the mailer i- <ul I r,an iiirli-r ila-m by the M.-a i Pr.idnceis’ Board. . . It may he Hml the shareholders of the Poverty Bar Eanmu's' M--al Company will liml

a way of exirieating the company Imm the union uiiate posit imt reached. but it is unlikely 1 1 1... t any lu-lp can lie given iliem bv the Government under the powers ii holds to refuse to revoke licenses to export." This may provide food for thought by farmers whether interested in meat or dairy produce. The only refuge lor Co-operal ion in the lasi, resort, it appeals, is a return to private eiiierprise. A WASTE OF MONEY. One of the diliieuh problems Parliament will have to face ncxl session, wla-n there will lm no approaching Imperial ( onlerciu-c to divert its attention from ihc country's domestic arlaim. will he a further substantial reduction of ihc public expenditure, fn no Department of Stale is the need for this more (ltigranl than it is in the Education Department, where the expenditure has been doubled in the course of five vent's without, producing anv (oTrinicn-itraic results that eithei the politicians or the teachers or the

statistician can show. It is inevitable, of course, that with any sound system of education the cost increases with the growth of population, hut- New' Zealand has gone far beyond this, and nraolienllv has nothing lo show for its

exti'avaganee except a large increase in taxation, fn addressing the Education Association on Wednesday. Mr I-'. M. Renner, indicated several directions in which the printing knife might be applied, lie declared emphatically that tho evening classes at Technical Schools involved a shocking waste of lnotiov conferring no b.-nclit at all upon 00 per edit cent of the pupils and impairing the health and consequent l.v the usefulness of many of the rest. This is only a drop in (lie brimming bucket. Lm it suggests one direction in which economy should proceed.