EMPIRE AND YOUTH.

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 677, 31 May 1929, Page 11

EMPIRE AND YOUTH.

SPECIAL CELEBRATION AT PpNSONBY - SCHOOL CLEVER PLAN OPERATED Empire Day and King’s Birthday celebrations were • combined effectively at the Ponsonby School this morning. The children, after the headmaster, Mr. K. C. MacLaurin, had spoken on the recovery of the King from his illness, watched fluttering, silken British flags borne to all points of the Empire, in order of acquisition, on a huge map of the world traced out on the school ground. “United Kingdom 1603, India 1757, Canada 1759, Australia 1788 . . .” So Mr. MacLaurin illustrated the growth of the Empire, stage by stage, throughout the centuries. Simply told, the plan was carried to its fullest effect. In his talk on Empire-building, Mr. MacLaurin made a point of the extraordinary development apparent in the new countries under British regime. Mr. MacLaurin said that a mass celebration of Empire Day, which fell on May 24, and of the King’s Birthday, falling on Monday, was believed by the school authorities to be a suitable method. “It seems to me that every school should pay its tribute to the King,” said Mr. MacLaurin. Before the Empire demonstration, Mr. R: A. Rew, chairman of the Ponsonby Schools Committee, presented 70 certificates for proficiency in swimming from the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. Sixteen certificates, nine for boys, were for pupils who had swum half a mile, and 27, 14 for girls, were for beginners. Mr. Rew mentioned that further certificates coming the committee would raise the total number to about 100. Appreciation of the work done in training the children by the Ponsonby Swimming and Life-Saving Club and by Mr. D. B. Anderson, the coach, was.expressed by Mr. Rew.