School Attendance.

Manawatu Herald, 1 March 1898, Page 2

School Attendance.

Judgino from the letter addressed by the bead master of the local school to tho Committee, he supposes that pirpnts are all co well fioaocially situated aa to be able to do without the assistance of their children's labour. Would that it were sq, but unfortunately it is not, sod the very, wording of the Act shows tbatth^ law ratkers^underatood thi3 view of the question . and only made th'p. attendance of the scholar .obligatory,, f>r one half the week. While wihave been tbs advocate of childrenbeing compelled to go to school We have always admitted that the scholar owes a duty to his parent;, and rather than viaw the departure' of a number of children to earn a small wage &t an honest and healthy employment as " not a pleasant or inspiriting night " we are pleased to think that they showed a willingness, to earn towards their support. If the pte^Hit compulsoiy system is to be retained, a? we should like to see it, there must be tact and consideration shown by the Com mittee, and it will be necessary therefore for them to turn a deaf ear ti the promptings of one who has other interests as well as those of the scholar to consider. The School Attendance Act gives but little power to th? committee, and it must be a matter -of congratulation that some 14 clever parents " do so clearly understand their liabi ity so that they send their children to > school the number of times that they ar« obliged to, and though our master does not seem to comprehend the necessity, we can readily imagine the very many ways the " only son of hia mother" and shi a widow, might be to her. £°t th« Act br administered with impartiality and without straining at it* reading, and all will be w^U, otherwise we can easily imagine it* being sw*pt off the Statute Book within a very ibort lime. .

Madame- Bokaseff, a Russian lad j who is at present in Americi Studying fartriihg and dairy business, and who is an expert in sunflower cultivation, interviewed by the reporter, of a Washington newspaper, says she keeps a farm for the rearing of the sunflower in her native country. She is resolved, should she find in the States a tract with soil and climatic conditions favourable to the growth of the plant, to start the cultivation of the sunflower on an extensive sea c, and a'so to erect mills for the extraction of the oil. The Ba'vage. operations In, connection with thV.New Zealand Shipping Company's: steamer Mataura, wrecked in the Magellan Strait, have been partially successful. SflTen ; hundred baler have besn recovered, but the operations are now stopped. Mr Bando.ll, an inventor, has need the telegraph lines between London and Stockport, via Liverpool and Maueheßtev, for telephoning jjuvposc*. 1"£t? vtpsxlminir, were fairly suacajsftf. . Three gigantic onions irora. the iftrm of Mr Sitff ; between Kerera and Levin, were features of the display of fraita of the earth inade at the Levin Wes eyjtn Church hardest festival. They weighed BJlb between them, and were of the Giant Hecoa variety. Ar*, amusing story, reaches the Hastings Stanfardtrom a township not & thousand mil rtflrom Hasting*. An old-time publioan had retired from the hotel business and set nimie'f op as a grocer. He was appointed a Jasticfc of the jPeace. The first drunk to ftptfaf b*fbt« him was a female. " H»w did you' fcrate to b« here ?" askied the great dnparid; ■ "To be aura your Honor that S^aV whelp of a policeman dragged me here. 'I was not drunk.' I ara not taking aim No thank yon!"- "Well, have a cfgar'i" promptly ejaculated the Justice, quite for the time that he was on the Bench. The gods screached with UfagKfeft whilst the man in blue roared "■Silence!" • . Advices received by the San Franoisco mail state that Dr Orpen, of Auckland, who is wanted on a charge of- murder in connection with the death of Su=an McCallum,. was, after his arrest at San Francisco on the 19th January, and identification, committed to the custody of the United States Marshal, to be held prisoner till further orders. •• Quite recently tfie New Zealand Shipping <Jompany's barque Opawa left Lytteltoo for Newcastle, having been chartered to run a load of meat from the New South Wales port to Durban, South Africa- A Caps paper of 12th January has the following significant paragraph, which sufficiency accounts for the Opawa making this special trip: — "Grave feats are entertained that w& shall shortly be face to face with a meat famine in thn Cape Colony. Persons who ' have travelled recently in the sheep-rear-m? districts tell grim stories of the terrible immolation of undergrown sheep which is taking place owing to drought and the necessities of hunger. The effects of serious depletion, added to the ravages of rinderpest, will be fe't for many years to come in the Cape Colony." A curiosity in a potato, of which ths foots have grown inwards and borne fruit ■within the o'd pntao, is now being exhibited in Ne'son. Tne new potatoes, about th» size of peas and beans, are as well formed as their circumscribed spaca will permit, and they lie with the substance of the old potato as pods.

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