WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 25 June 1921, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT. A NEW ENTERPRISE. (Special Correspondent.) Mr. Massey’s enterprise in attaching a publicity officer to his personal staff during his trip Home, after the fashion of the Commonwealth Prime Minister, has kept the Dominion better informed of the doings of its delegate to the Imperial Conference than ever has been the case before. It has been told when and where its representatives dined, with whom, what he said and how his remarks were received, all of which, of course, has been very interesting and edifying and conducive to the public comfort and welfare. But the publicity officer rather overdid his role when he saddled on to the Press Association this week a big story of the Prime Minister’s tiny adventure during his midnight drive between Oxford and London. Even the Dominion protests against the cable being burdened with such a triviality to the exclusion of important news. Other critics are more scathing in their remonstrance, but a nice sense of proportion is not a saving grace given to every publicity officer. GOLD MINING. The lion. G. J. Anderson, the Minister of Mines, has returned to Wellington after an extensive tour of the gold-min-ing districts of the South Island, fully convinced that large quantities of tbe precious metal remain to be won from the earth and added to the wealth of the country. He intends during next session to ask Parliament for a substantial vote for the encouragement of prospecting by individuals and its prosecution by State enterprise. The Minister does not wish to imply that the Mines Department has been remiss in these respects in the past; indeed the records show it han dqne everything possible with the mon y at its disposal; but a'new era for the mining industry i is opening and an adequate effort is required to secure the best results. Mr. Anderson has entered upon his new task with enthusiasm and faith and it is to be hoped these two administrative virtues will bear -fruit. THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE. It seems that the Imperial Conference will open its sittings a good deal later than was expected to be the case when Mr. Massey left for London and that in consequence the return of the Prime Minister and the opening of the next session of Parliament will be considerably delayed. Of course Mr. Massey’s time during the interval will not be wasted. There are a number of matters, in addition to the business of the Conference, requiring his attention at Home. The negotiations for the floatation of the public works loan, the allocation of the wool profits, the inquiries concerning shipping freights and the disposal of New Zealand products would be sufficient to keep him busy for a nXonth or two, even if the opening of the Conference were postponed so long. But it is expected to begin its work next week and then to stick closely to business till its programme is through. PARLIAMENT. When the Prime Minister left for London it was understood that directly his colleagues were informed of his departure on his return journey, Parliament would be called together. It then would have time to dispose of the purely formal business and the Address-in-Reply debate before its leader’s arrival in the Dominion. Now it seems probable that Mr. Massey will not be able to leave London before the middle, of August and may not be in New Zealand till towards the end of September. This will mean, almost certainly, that Parliament will not be able to get through its work before Christmas, and that the oft threatened adjournment over the holidays will actually eventuate. The session is bound to be a very busy one. There is a vast accumulation of arrears to make up and a large amount of new business to be handled, little of which can be touched till Mr. Massey is on the spot. A five months’ session is the common prediction. STATE EDUCATION. The Minister of Education has been hinting lately at impending changes in the education system of the Dominion that were to make for necessary economy and increased efficiency. Presumably the proposals submitted to the Council of Education on Saturday represent in the main the scheme the Minister and his chief administrative officer, the Director of Education, have been hatching. They provide, it would seem, for children taking the primary school course till they reach the age of thirteen, when they might be expected to have passed the fifth standard, arid then being launched upon a post-primary course which would be determined mainly by each child’s "mental equipment and mental attitude,” to quote the Director’s own words. Apparently the two courses, the primary and the postprimary. are to be taken in the same school, the Director thinking “the children would understand one another better and obtain, an indirect influence from those following other courses of study.” What is to become of tbe present High Schools is not indicated. CAREFUL CONSIDERATION REQUIRED. The proposals were discussed at some length by the members of the Council, the Director having asked for the criticism of his advisers, and the opinion of the majority of them appeared to be that the time was not particularly opfor the change and that in any case the scheme should bn very carefully considered before it was put into operation. Local members of the teaching profession are not more enthusiastic over the proposals. One of them, with thirty years’ experience and a very excellent record, referring to the subject to-day, said that what was wanted more than anything else in the Dominion’s system of education was thoroughness in the primary schools. A thorough grounding in the essentials should be the birth-right of every child born and this could not be given by a system which ended the primary course at the fifth standard and harassed the child with a score of subjects for which he might have neither inclination nor capacity. If the essentials were taught as they should be children would leave (school with a thirst for further knowledge and the general standard of edu'CatiM Would he enormously raised.

A SPIRITED RETORT. Mr. George Mitchell, the very earnest and intensely loyal member for Wellington South, has read Mr. Brash, the new secretary of the National Dairy Association, a very scathing lecture on what he regards as that gentleman’s implications of profiteering against the Imperial Government in connection with its handling of New Zealand butter. Mr. Mitchell doos nbt pretend to know whether the Mother Country lost or gained over her dealings with the Dominion during the war, but he is quite certain, as most other people acquainted with the facts are, that she bore more than her fair share of the ‘*white men’s burden” when the whole future of the race appeared to be in jeopardy. His lecture concludes with a fervid appeal to Mr. Brash “to stop this miserable charge of profiteering.” Less zealous patriots than Mr. Mitchell did not see in Mr. Brash’s statements, an implication of profiteering, but many people took strong exception to his assertion that the present subsidy paid to the butter-makers is purely for the benefit of the consumers. THE CENSORSHIP. The Christchurch Labor members of the House of Representatives would oe well advised did they not rush to the newspapers with every telegram they dispatch to the Acting-Prime Minister instructing that very courteous gentleman upon the performance of his duties. Sir Francis Bell may Jag somewhat behind the progressive thought of the day. and he may be just a little disposed to play the part of the old-time autocrat, but no administrator has been more frank and open with the public and more ready’ to give his confidence to members of Parliament. The Christchurch Labor members, being gentlemen of ordinary intelligence, must have known perfectly well the reason for the revival of the censorship of certain cablegrams and their attempt to make party capital out of the incident is regarded here as both ill-mannered and unpatriotic, even by people •whose political sympathies are more fully with Labor than w’th the present Government.