MINISTER OF EDUCATION VISITS FOXTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4527, 6 November 1930, Page 3

MINISTER OF EDUCATION VISITS FOXTON.

OUTLINES THE EDUCATIONAL rr;,— ' POLIiCiY. The Minister of Education (Hon. H. Atraore). paid an official visit to the local District? High School yesterday 1 . He was accompanied by Mr. J. Linklater, M.P., and Mr. Nieholls, a. member of the Wellington Education Board. The party 1 i’wffij’ iWCt at. the school by the chairman of the School Committee (Mr. J. K. Hornblow), and Messrs 11. Mayer, IC. M. Ilewett, E. Robinson and K. Raugiheuea (members of CCjinnvittee)., W. A. Collins (chairman) and W. 11. Swanger (secretary of the Wanganui Education

Board), the Mayor (Mr. M. E. Perreau) and headmaster (Mr. F. A. Mason). There were also present members of the general public and the school children were seated on. the slopes of x Ihakara Hill facing the school. The Minister was introduced by Mr. J .K. Hornblow who referred to the number of distinguished statesmen who had previously visited the school and said that it was a pleasure and an honour to welcome the

present Minister of Education, who by reason of being a descendant of the pilgrim fathers of this country could lay claim to being one of New Zealand’s aristocracy. The Minister was a son of one of Nelson’s early settlers and had received his edulation at a public school in that city and what he had been able to

accomplish, opportunity was afforded every hoy and girl to-day to do provided they were determined, studious and ambitious. Holding the most important portfolio lie did, the [Minister was determined that the people of this Dominion, the ,boys and gills and the State ;were going to receive the utmost value for every £1 expended on education. Mr. Hornblow briefly lefcrml to the fact that Nelson had been the birthplace of one of 'the greatest scientists the world had ever known in the person of Sir Ernest Rutherfurd. Both Sir

Ernest Rutherford and the non. Atmoro had set an example for every boy and girl to follow and lie hoped that in the years to come the Fox'tou District High School would be able to place on its honours board the name of some pupil who had rendered signal service to the State. The Mayor (Mr. Perreau) then accorded the Minister a civic welcome and said. that it was a very great pleasure to be able to welcome the Minister to Fox ton. They wore all proud of their town which was one of: the oldest, cleanest and

finest little places along (lie coast, possessing good citizens and boys and girls that compared more •llia'n

favourably with any part of the Dominion (applause). The boys and girls were fortunate in having such an excellent staff of teachers and' such fine parents. In conclusion Mr. Perreau expressed the hope that he would again have the opportunity of welcoming the Minister to Foxton. Mr. J. Linklater,, M.P., also welcomed the Hon. Atmore to Foxton and referred to the big task the Minister had set himself in his determination to visit every school in the country, As he had been visiting Levin he thought that it would be a good opportunity for him also to visit Foxton and neighbouring schools and the Minister had been pleased to accept his invitation in this connection. This was his first visit to the Manawatu and he was proud to be able to show him around. Mr. Liuklater said the Minister was carrying out a good work and he was pleased indeed to note that one of the chief clauses in his policy was to develop education along agricultural lines. He felt that this was the right line of action to adopt and it was one that he was entirely sympathetic with. He then called on the pupils to accord the Minister a real good welcome which they did with three hearty cheers. ■-> Mr. W. A. Collins, as chairman of the Wanganui Education Board, endorsed the remarks of the. previous Speakers I 'and said that the Minister’s visit was a great event in the lives of the boys and girls who must feel proud that the Hon. Atmore had spared time ito look them up. Personally, as .“father” of the 17,0.00' children in the Wanganui Education Board . district, he was very pleased to be able to extend a welcome to the Minister. He felt proud of the Foxton school buildings and surroundings and he

felt sure that the 'Minister would he pleased with what had been clone in Eoxton with regard to the’ ' educational welfare of the children. .

(Mr. Nichohs' (member ol the Wellington Education ‘Board) ad-

dressed a few remarks, to the children prior to the Minister, and said that the Hoii. Atinore had his heart and soul in his work and he, with others, was doing his best to train and educate tfie children of to-day that they'might be able to success-

fully manage this country when those at the head of affairs to-day were no more. He said this was the first? occasion on which he had visited Eoxton and he was very

surprised at the cleanliness of the town and its’fine, approaches. Erorn •C whaf he hii’(l "seen the business centre quite, appealed to even the city dweller. He hoped that in the no distant future he would be able to

pay Eoxton another visit. In'conclusion be urged the boys and girls to do all. that they could in the pre-

sent time of depression to cheer up and help their parents. There were brighter times ahead and when they did come they were going to be brighter than 'before. He congratulated the teachers and parents neat and clean appearance of the children, who appeared

to be well fed and found and were certainly a very fair sample of the New Zealand seliolai-.

The Minister was greeted with a round of applause as he rose to address the assembly. lie apologised for not having visited Foxton before, but said that he bad in no way overlooked the matter but be had set himself a tremendous task when lie decided lo see every boy and girl attending school, both public and private, throughout the Doimnion. When he took over his portfolio lie had found that there (were many projected building schemes on hand but no one had the necessary information concerning all the undertakings. Something like £2,000,000 was involved and the work could only be properly carried out by obtaining first hand knowledge of each and every scheme. Consequently lie had planned his visits according to the relative -urgency’ of the building pi’oposals -which had necessarily delayed his visit to Foxton. He took oveir offiice in December, 1928, and immediately set out to acquire knowledge. He found that ‘there were 276,000 boys and girls receiving education in the (Dominion and ‘already he had visited 1800 schools and addressed 180,000 boys and girls and claimed in this respect, to have visited more schools than any previous Ministers. He wanted (he boys and girls of the country districts to feel that they were just as much to him as those of the oily schools and he further wanted them to realise that they were training their lives for service. Their teachers wore all thoroughly skilled and thoughrout the world to-dav an intense interest was being evinced in education and it could he said that the present was Ihe children’s age in a greater degree than ever previously. Dr. Jack, of Oxford, had said that education was the. key to life and the Minister, considered that he was speaking on right lines. Life was proving more difficult and complex every day and il was only through the teachers that the child rim of 10-day could lie equipped to meet the complexities of life. The first phase of education lie considered was 'that of developing the body. K was very necessary for them to develop their bodies as well as their minds, and to assist in this direction, playing’ areas were provided .and he urged his listeners to evince a keen interest in their games as a good deal of education was obtained during play hours as well as in school. The second phase was ,lhe development of the intellect. It was no good having a good strong body if they had no control force to guide il. It was like having a ship with strong engines and no steering gear. lie considered that in the past educational development had not been carried out on the right lines and touched on (lie necessity for an agricultural bias. He said this phrase had been ridiculed in some quarters but he considered 'that New Zealand like, certain other countries was dependent upon farming for the success or otherwise of its secondary industries. In the past agricultural education had been pursued with a 'town bias in both Australia and New Zealand and this was utterly wrong. The trouble in both these countries to-day was not caused .by the low prices that produce was bringing hut was due to the fact that they had been pursuing the policy of taking the brightest hoys and girls and placing them in town positions. Tt had been considered flint only the “fool of the family” .was good enough for farming, hut the Minister considered that it took a smarter man to.-succeed on a farm to-day than it did in a clerical. position in the city. They had only to look at Denmark for proof that this policy was sound. Denmark to-day was the most prosperous and contented country in the world, he said, simply because it saw the necessity for pursuing agricultural and pastoral pursuits. It broke up all big estates, the same as must be done in New Zealand, and by dealing with first things first, was now in the happy position of being the happiest . and most prosperous country in the world. Farming had not been made attractive in •the first place in this country but it must be made attractive and they must give all the help possible towards fosterng it in the future.

Touching briefly on the future of education in this country the Minister said that despite opposition a system for better education would be put hi force iu this country in t lie near future which wpuld place New Zealand in the proud position it occupied in 11114 when the late Hon. It. J. Seddon opened the doors of the secondary schools of this country to the poorer people. This move had meant the development of the National assets of the country and had proved a very good policy. It enabled the bigger percentage of children to obtain a secondary education than anywhere else in the world. Since (hen, unfortunately, New Zealand had gone back. Great Britain had likewise slipped back in regard to its educational standard but he was pleased to say that that coun - try how realised the seriousness of that slip and was carrying out a, survey of the whole of its educational system. The term of primary education iu Great Britain now terminated at the age of eleven when followed exploratory period to ascertain which phase of education was necessary for each individual child prior to him embarking on his secondary education. This system would obtain in New Zeaalnd in the near future. The Minister urged the children to imbue themselves with high ideals and pointed out that the highest ideal of all was service. He referred to the wave of lunacy

which swept the world during 191418, when it had cost an allegedly civilised world £60,000,000 to fake 10,000,000 lives, or £5,000 to kill each person who lost, his life, in the Great War. Had the world been possessed of high ideals at that time it would not. to-day be called on to pay such heavy reparation. It depended on whether the world’s ideals were low or high as to whether the marvellous powers in operation to-ilay and being brought into operation daily, were to be used for purposes of construction or destruction.

In conclusion the .Minister said that lie regarded education as a co-operative undertaking that could be carried out by any state and the state which did not develop the best from the material available was not acting on right lines. He was pleased to say that recent measurements taken in secondary schools showed that the New Zealand bov of fifteen was the tallest and best developed lad in the world. But, said 'the Minister, this is not altogether surprising when we realise what fine stock came out to the colonies in the first place, which was followed by equally fine set! levs who wore provided with better conditions than they had been accustomed to before and this stock had improved with the passing of yea.rs. He was pleased to see the hoys and girls of the Foxton school looking so happy and healthy. An alarming report had been circulated in Wellington recently with regard to their condition hut their appearance absolutely contradicted the "statement circulated. In his opinion the children of the local school measured up quite well with the children he had visited in any part of the Dominion. In a final plea that they should feel that they were being regarded with just as much eonsideraI ion as any other school, the Minister said Hull; four and three quarter million pounds was being devoted to public schools and threequarters of a million was spent on pri vate schools. If I hey realised this and took into consideration •the excellent 'facilities afforded at Foxton they would realise that they actually were thought of to a considerable extent. At the conclusion of his address Iho Minister asked that the Headmaster confer with the Chairman of Committee in the granting of a whole, holiday to the school in honour of his visit.

Mr F. A. Mason briefly thanked the Minister for the holiday, and llii' interest he had taken in the school, lie was pleased arid proud lo welcome him to the school, as when they had a visit from a member of (Cabinet it made them all realise what an interest was being taken in their school and work. He also enlarged on the Minister’s message to the children. The Ministerial party was thou entertained to morning tea provided hy the girls of the cookery class, when the Minister met tile staff and others present. After a brief inspection of the school buildings, the Hon. Atmore and party left for Levin, via Moufcoa and Shannon, where he also inspected the schools. Prior to his arrival at Foxton the Minister visited the Poroutawhao schbol.