JOURNEY'S END

NZ Truth, Issue 1141, 13 October 1927, Page 4

JOURNEY'S END

NOTHING is much more depressing to a travel -weary man or woman than to an ive at a hostelry — their journey's end — and be met by a longfaced, sour, dyspeptic individual who announces that he is the proprietor. Yet what traveller has not had this dispiriting experience? Thoughts of fish-hooks and boiling oil rush through the travel- __ ler"s brain which would have effectually placed many hotelkeepers out of action if they could have matured — and no loss to the world, be it said. But those who go Taupowards will find a happy exception to this type of person when they make the acquaintance of John Patrick Sheehan, proprietor of the Lake Hotel, Taupo. For, by my halidom, he hath a merry countenance and a welcoming smile for, all who come his way. At no time does hia rubicund countenance look merrier than when he murmurs: "Good luck," as his twinkling eyes gaze over the top of the bowl of good cheer. Withal, he knows all too well that his hostelry does not do justice to the great possibilities of the wonderful surroundings; he has some strong views on the subject of the local fishing licences and some of the new regulations, which, he fears, will do much to prejudice the district m the eyes of those who follow the piscatorial pastime. AN INSTITUTION TTHE case of Eben Wilson, who con--1 trols the destinies of the Waikato High School at Hamilton, is the case of a teacher who has been weighed m the balance and found not wanting. Although slumping somewhat recently, probably no town m the Dominion can claim so remarkable a growth as Hamilton during the past two decades. It was about that time ago when Wilson, as a young master — albeit with the M.A. diploma packed m his grip and well endowed with grit, driving force and erudition — went to Hamilton as the first of his line. With the help of one lady assistant he opened up a High School with 'a handful of pupils m the murky basement of the Town Hall. ,Many hundreds now answer the rollcall m the handsome structure and campus grounds which flank the.railway line and which catch the attention of most visitors. The acid test is applied . when a teacher is required to grow and expand with the times m this fashion and Wilson has emerged therefrom with a high rating among his fellowcraftsmen. Many scholastic honors have fallen to his school — his m very truth, for he fashioned it into being from mere nothingness. Wilson is not regarded as a mere teacher m the Waikato — he is an institution.