CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 260, 26 March 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

• TTOXORS FOR SERVICE IX LOCAL AFFAIRS. imperial honors, said the Prime Minister at Temttka last week, had been given for various kinds of Services, hut none for work in local affairs. ''l ay not believe," he said, "we have had sufficient recognition in this country or in any other part of the British Empire of the services rendered by those men who have given almost the whole of their lives and a great deal of energy and ability to the service of their fellow men in the matter of local government." Mr. Massey added that he knew of one man in Parliament who had had fifty-one years' service as chairman of a school committee. There was another man present who had had forty years' service, on local bodies, and he knew of anothe! man in the Xorth Island who had been forty-seven years on a county council, of which he had been chairman for forty years. "If," he continued, "there is any Imperial recognition to any class in tl.e community, and T do not speak of knighthood, because I do not sax- they should have handles to their names, it should be to those who have served their fellow citizens without fee or reward." ■ ALMOST IXCREniRLE. For pure, unadulterated ignorance of Xew Zealand—Taranaki in particular—one would have to go a long way to find a more glaring instance than that afforded by the latest issue of the London Sphere, a copy of which is on view in 1 the Public Library. In the "Events of the Week Abroad'' column it contains a photographic reproduction of the new Xorth Egniont Hostelry, with .Mount Egmont in the background, underneath which is the following illuminating statement: —"Mount Egniont. the ascent of which has just been made for the lirst time. Dr Ernest Diell'enbach. a celebrated naturalist, has recently succeeded in reaching the summit of Mount Egniont. with a whaler named Ilebbevle.v. They were abandoned by tliei/ companions when 1300 ft from the top and.continued the ascent together." The paragraph omitted to state that the twain nearly fell victims to the wild hordes of cannibals roaming at will over Taranaki in this the year 1013, but in view of the Sphere's deplorable ignorance of Mount Kgmoiit such intelligence from abroad would not have been surprising. As a matter of fact, the Sphere is half a century behind the time. Tlie ' ascent was made by the twain referred to. but it was accomplished in the early 'forties. The matter is not without its serious side, for prospective tourists to Xew Zealand would, after reading this misleading account of what i< one of the principal >ccnic atlractions of the Dominion, in many eases give Mount Egniont a wide berth. Certainly a few of the holder spirits would not he deterred on this account, hut the majority would no doubt prefer >o wait until they had information that the mountain was not quite so untamed and inaeeessihis'! . Incidentally, the whole incident makes out a good ease for the justification of the Xew Plymouth Tourist and Expansion League, which is doing yeoman service! in bringing the resources and attractions of the province before the notice of the outside world. AX iXSTITt'TIOX OF PROMISE. The (lav classes at the New Plymouth Technical College were only started about the middle of last year, but, are already on a very sound footing. The roll number now stands at i 34. ami every week' sees additions to the students' ranks. The girls take commercial and domestic work, while the bovs are occupied with olectrical engineerim l ;, agriculture and dairying, some of them taking a commercial course. Agriculture and dairying are included in an industrial course, and both subjects are very popular with the students. The daily roster is so designed as to be attractive to pupils and parents alike. The session runs from 11 to -1 o'clock, thereby enabling the children to assist at, home with housework and the like, if desired, and allowing ample time for recreation and pri- ; vate study without encroaching too much on their evening. The whole arrangement tends to eliminate the burning of too much "midnight oil," which, in tli e case of growing lads and lassies, is a thing not to be desired. The work, which is in the nature of secondary education. is largely on practical lines, and is [ for the purpose of fitting students with the sinews of war for the real battle of life. By this means the energies of the pupils are directed along the lines of the particular avocation for which they evince a natural hent. With an overcrowded and over-lappinir syllabus the primarv day school, as is well known, often falls short of the mark in this respect, and it is here that the recentlyinstituted da.v classes nt. our Technical College afford opportunities that are not obtainable elsewhere. Already the building is overcrowded, extensions being contemplated, and once parents realise the

value ill l'H' teaching the institution should fid ahead by leaps and hounds. For country children the day classes are particularly convenient, the hours of commencement and dismissal synchronising with the arrival and departure of the North Taranaki train* respectively.