The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, April 18, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1234, 18 April 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, April 18, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Thk local State school, in common with other schools iu the southern end of the Wanganui Educational district, broke up yesterday for a fortnight in order to allow the teachers to attend a course of instruction in physical training at Feilding. The training teachers thus receive will be transferred to the children in due course. The Government has incurred considerable expense and, by the way, hot adverse criticism, anent the appointment of Mr Royd Garlick, who is responsible ior the new physical training scheme. Opinions may differ as to the Government’s method of appointing the expert, but there can be no two opinions regarding the scheme for the physical development of our children, and the Government is justified in the expenditure incurred to provide a sound mind in a sound body. It is almost impossible to get the best results from au educational course if the physical side ol the child’s life is neglected. As a result of the teachers course we hope, in the near future, to see some physical improvement iu the children attending the State schools.

Speaking on educational matters and the attention which is being given to the physical side of the child’s life, and this is the proper foundation to work from, we hope to see some stir in other educational directions. The Teachers’ Institute has been agitating for higher salaries to thota engage! in the profession and the Minister has promised to make increases. That's alright. But searching inquiry should be made into the whole of the primary system and general administration in connection .with primary education. The system c f inspection should be national instead of local in order to provide uniformity. A large per centage of those engaged in the teaching profession, instead of being granted increase! salaries, should be bumped out of the service altogether, for they have no more notion of the grave responsibilities annexed to the calling than certain individuals who find their way on educational administrative boards. It may be that low salaries are responsible for the misfits in the service, but the present large expenditure on education in this country is not justified by results, and the time is ripe for a thorough investigation by the Government. There are many who are simply using the teaching profession as a convenience and as a stepping stone to other professions, while a greater number would be better employed in other, if less congenial, walks of life.

Thk Hon. Mr Herdman reviewed the strike and defended the Government’s action in connection therewith, during the course of his address in the Wellington Town Hall last night. There were no “beg-pardons” for the attitude he had taken in the crisis as Minister for Justice, and he concluded by stating “if another occasion arose, and a similar set of circumstances, I, as Mininster ol Justice, would do precisely the same thing again.” His statement was greeted with tumultuous applause. He uttered the faith that was in him in respect to our grand little country in these words : “As one who has lived in this country for years, who was born in it, and whose fate is linked up with its fate, I want to say that I have perfect laith in the future of New Zealand. (Applause.) I believe in its natural strength and in its natural advantages and in the ability of the people of this country to make the most of these virtues. My only fear is lest this rich and attractive possession of ours should get into the bands of adventurers, who, thinking not of the good of the people or of the people, will use it as a plaything in some ignoble game.”

Since Mr Norman Angell first pointed out the lolly of warfare between modern civilised nations as a means of promoting national interests, the expenditure of the nations upon armaments has increased year by year, until it has now reached the appalling total of .£500,000,000 per annum, lu “The Foundations of National Folity ” he has republished in edited form so as to avoid needless repetition and observe natural sequence, six addresses delivered to audiences in England and Germany, and has summarised the entire argument in a comprehensive introductory essay. In this he seeks to show that the political ideas governing and determining the attitude of one State to another

iu Europe, and giving to international relationship its present character, are erroneous, and that they are the outcome of certain abstract theories at variance with the facts. Nations now are not independent entities in the sense that they are self-snfficent. “ Except iu a narrow sense,” says Mr Augell, “ they are not sovereign, nor independent, nor entities nor rival, nor advantageously predatory ; nor does the exercise of the possession of the means of physical coercion determine the relative advantage of each.” International trade has woven bonds between the nations which have made them inter-dependent. Co-operation between them has become essential for their very life, and it is being daily more clearly recognised that industrial activity and consequent prosperity are to a large extent dependent upon the prosperity of those foreign rivals which at the same time are the best customers.

It is gratifying to know that a number of the rowdies who disturbed the Hon. Mr Fisher’s political meeting iu the Wellington Town Hall early this month have been brought to justice and deservedly punished for their unBritish conduct. One individual, who jauntily pleaded not guilty, but who failed to give any evidence to support his plea, was fined and costs, while others were fined 50s and 4os with costs. The charge against the offenders was simply that “they did disturb a public meeting.” Eovers of British fair play will endorse the prompt action of the authorities to put down the rowdy element which of lale is becoming prominent at political meetings.