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Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1930, Page 6

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AN ACUTE PROBLEM.

“WHAT TO -DO WITH OUR BOYS”

LONDON, September 25

,In New Zealand,' as in every other country in the world, the question of wLat to do with our boys is an acute one. There is a feeling abroad that too many people are entering the “black coat” occupations, and that the world i is making the, same mistake as Mac--1 aulay made with India when he in- • sisted on a purely literary type of edu- ' cation. Certainly the professions, es- ■ pecially the older ones, are crowded, 1 bht : it is a different story "With the ■ classes which have been developed by ■ new scientific departments. It is worth passing on Sir Hugo Hirst’s view that pareiits who have given their sons a v University education should not be too ' disconsolate. Sir Hugo, as New Zea- ' land probably remembers, is chairman * of the General Electric Company, and is a man who started work at the age of sixteen and paved his way. When interviewed, lie said: “I see no reason for parents to despair as to children’s chances in making careers,” he said. “On the contrary, I believe more openings exist than ever before. The new ‘wants’ that have arisen—television, wireless, gramophones, flying machines must- in r.due course provide fine . 'opport,unifies Besides; if "you look round at any twenty ‘ successful businftyiyieij, you. will find that hardly one ‘lf tliem was prepared for that parti-. ' chlar business'. * I never thought whenI began, for instance, I should be sitting- here head of a large electrical business. There was ho electrical business then. Given the right training ’|jfd .ambition, the; Bby.; or ;young : nigh ..will make 'his opportunities; that "is how* careers "are made—by the seizing jof opportunities.” Adult Education. Another interesting dictum on education was given this week. Thus Professor’ J. Dover Wilson, of King’s College, London, speaking at the conference of British Adult Education which was held at Cambridge, suggested that adult education is one of the English replies to Fascism oil the one hand, and Bolshevism on the other, and is itself jjhild of the same world sijtuatiortt : HWityihas the world G&b ; t oreaction in. ;sonio’. countries,;‘stimulated education:|im adult - education ihd|atticuiar, in:'- Epgland?, My answerthat th’c sense j .of -thei danger of dHf^^fel^ljau.j in this countytyiMTiftnrin-^ ; 6tiißr.;COuhtrreh : .i because of our comparative security. The shadow -oht.unemployipent, -a ..iiecent , development, may lead to the situation j ywhrclj othery-couutries- -find- -themselves... in. l It may be, of course, that we are deluding' ourselves with regard to our ] security, but we have felt until recently more. ol; less secure.” Referring j to the political situation, Professor Wil- ] son .said :-c“We. talk., as if we had |

majority government;,in England. No fallacy, could, be. greater. We have always h'fiS 'ti' choice of tv r o evils. It used to be two, now it is three. (Daughter)? The Government' is irxore. popular_ than any British Government'“will ever' be.- 1 WO'ha.Ve the yighf. grumble time; 1 and" when tlie thing becomes insufferable we can turn the beggars out. When faced with crisis, British people always resort to discussion. The qrd(harj;'i Englishman, _ . continued the and incurably rlf&ul”' f run he would use adult education for religious ends. Failed to Agree. An item of news which will greatly interest horse breeders is that negotiations for the sale of a famous English thoroughbred to the Argentine have fallen through because no reasonable compromise could be reached between the contracting parties owing to the figure at which the animal was offered. These negotiations had been going on for some time and disappointment is felt on both sides for since I the recent death of Craganour, the | sensational Derby winner of 1913, the Argentine has room for another stallion of first, class breed. : Tomato Culture. . >■

The cultivation of tomatoes, while not-'exactly Aiew (.Jigs' become only, a large scale industry during the present century. Evidence of its increasing importance and value is given by the fact that problems of tomato cultivation have been a subject of experimental research at the station tn Cheshunt, Herts. The director, Dr. W. F. Bewley, in an address at Manchester University, dealt with diseases affecting tomatoes, and the best-known methods of avoiding or controlling them. He also described methods of fertilisation. Mildew was the most serious problem tomato-growers had to face, but the trouble would not be so serious as it has been. Experiments with a spray were being carried out at Cheshunt about which he and his staff were hopeful. They were also attacking mildew in another way, and already they had several varieties of tomato which were resistant to mildew. These, however, were A not good varieties. He believe that within two or three years they would he able to give growers some good varieties that would be resistant to mildew. A Valuable Metal.

The importance of hearings that will not wear out and therefore he less expensive than those at present in use ex.tends not merely to motors but to aircraft. One of the difficulties, lam told with regard to the direct lift aircraft is largely one of getting bearings which will stand a greater strain than those necessary for other machines. Tn view of that fact the discovery reported bv Reuter in South-West Africa of lithium, a metal which contains the qualities of lightness and hard wear, is of the 4 utmost importance tt> the develop-

ment of transport on land and in the air. Lithium, which. is the lightest metal known, with a specific gravity not much more than half that of water, is understood to he the chief element in a new aluminium alloy which is much lighter than pure aluminium and nearly as strong as steel, and which will stand indefinite wear as a hearing material. The drawback to its more extended use hitherto has been the searity of the metal and its high cost of production, much of the lithium now produced having been extracted from German mineral springs by a process which makes its market price about' £7500 a ton. The new deposits which are now being mined near Windhoek, show the satisfactory average yield of 4.59 per cent ol* the lithium oxide. Already thousands of tons of ore have been mined, and the deposits in the mine will not he exhausted for many yegrs.