CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1917, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

QUESTIONS FOR THE BOARD. (To the Editor.) Sir,—As the Board of Education jncets on Wednesday, J beg permission to ask, in your columns, a question of that important body. Have you, gentlemen, read the circular of tho Ministei of Education, dated oth November. 1915, dealing with temperance teaching in schools? And then, has your Board, have your inspectors, done anything to Tnrther the object aimed at in that circular letter? The letter itself is very mild; it only asks for "sympathetic cooperation'' from the various educational agencies, when, as Minister of Education, Air. Ifnnnan might very well have blamed the Boards, etc., for neglect, and have demanded better attention t. the subject in future. T ask these ques tions "because during the few weeks be fore Christmas, when the various schools were presenting reports. I watched the newspapers to see if anything were said about temperance teaching; and I found nothing about it. These reports told of what was done in the way of sports and games and gymnastics (mental, and physical), and sometimes about health, but nothing about the. evils resulting from the use of alcoholic drinks, or any attempts to teach tho young people a better way. Tt is a pity that our Boards are :o absorbed in detail work that they'seem to have no time to see the outstanding ignorance of our people on the evils caused by drink, ,nd how they may do their part to correct it.—l am, etc., GEO. H. MAUNDER.