FILMS FOR CHILDREN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 866, 9 January 1930, Page 7

FILMS FOR CHILDREN

AUCKLAND CO-OPERATIVE MOVE POOH-POOHED DIFFICULT PROBLEM “So much hot air.” With this terse comniem, Mr. H. Gladstone Hill, managing director of the Education Film Service, dimmisses the co-operative move *n Auckland toward screening special pictures for children. For the past two years the Education Film Service has been screening pictures in schools throughout New Zealand. He considers the problem of providing special pictures for children is deeper than people assume, and is so complicated that only those directly interested appreciate the position. “In the ffrst place, there is the difficulty of the type of film,” says Mr, Hill. “1 know schoolmasters who considered one film I had the best they had ever seen and gave lessons on it to the children. The same film was roundly condemned by another master, who refused permission for his children to attend a screening! Then there is the question of cost. If a film is to be of educational value and part of the school life, then it should be free to scholars. Unfortunately. the Department of Education cannot see its way to make it free, and a charge has to be made.

“A difficulty is met right away, for some children can pay and others can not, while some will not. Therefore, the maximum results are not obtained. “If the films shown are to be of collective value, they must be shown in school hours, otherwise they are looked upon merely as entertainment. When it comes to the latter, then the child prefers to choose his own amusement, and very often the parent refuses to send the child to the theatre selected.”

Mr. Hill says he discussed recently with the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, and Sir Truby King concerning a proposal to broadcast descriptions of films, but any scheme evolved will have to be approved by the Education Board. He states that the Minister has assured him of the Health Department’s co-operation in a plan that will suit schools. Mr. Hill further states that he had screened in Wellington some months ago a film entitled “The Forgotten People,” especially for her Excellency Lady Alice Fergusson. The GovernorGeneral. Sir Charles Fergusson. was detained on State business at the last minute and could not be present. “During the evening,” stated Mr. Hill, “I found her Excellency profoundly interested in films for children. but she admitted the subject was a bigger one than most people realised, and really came back to the producer of the film and the parent of the child. If the latter demanded a better type, then the former would produce.” How the parent is to “demand,” except by staying away from pictures, is entirely beyong me. When anything practical can be done in this direction I will not be far away, but I have not visited nearly every primary and secondary school in the Dominion without knowing just where we all stand.”