CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 71, 22 September 1915, Page 2

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE

In a letter published in last Wednes- . day's Post "Paltry Fiver" took exception to the action taken by the Wellington Assistant Masters' Association advocating more favourable treatment of country candidates in awarding scholarships. B. T. Blake, M.A., writes justifying the course adopted by the association. A handicap is placed on country scholars, he says, by making the scholarship awards on a certain "percentage of marks, seeing that town candidates have all the advantages of large schools; furtker, as there are limitations only in regard to age and residence in the country, rural scholars have to compete with pupils of secondary schools, high schools, and private schools, the two' former being schools of a higher standard of education than the primary school. Country pupils must nearly always Kvo at Borne distance from their homes to secure the benefit of a secondary education, which the town pupil has almost -at hit door. The Assistant Masters' Association carefully considered the facts before passing any resolution, and the fact that it arrived at the same conclusion as the Educational Institute shows that the members were not animated by a partisan spirit. A. W. Palmer, a. councillor of Onslow Borough, replying to Councillor Budd's I strictures in regard to the water scheme, says that the matter will not be settled •by "electors," but by ratepayers, the majority of whom have the progress of | the borough at heart, and an eye to future solid values. In the event of the | loan of £25,000 being asked for, councillors will of course state their views on the platform, both for and against. I All reasonable ratepayers will be satis- ! fied to receive full information at the proper time, and only the unreasonable expect full publicity of details at the present stage. Referring to the statement that "port openers" (strike-breakers) are among those refusing to work on the wharves after 10 at night, 'Tort Opener" writes to say that it » the employers' own fault. Had they stock to the men who came to their assistance during the strike, those men would have stuck to them. But in spite of the agreement the new men were gradually shunted, and those who remain — now only two or j three hundred — find that the work is allotted to their disadvantage, as, it is alleged, the pay-sheets show. I "Sufferer" draws attention to what he calls the disgraceful state of the woodblock crossings in various parts of the city, and opines that the City Council will some day fall in for big damages for broken legs, etc. He suggests that small drains should be cut in the wood to carry off surplus water, which makes the crossings, and in some places the footpaths, slippery and dangerous. Miss Ettie A. Rout quotes the following extract from a reply by Mr. F. Wolter to her letter on the nationality question :— ' 'The secretary of the International Typographical Secretariat, M. P, Stauter, is one of the prisoners of war in the German concentration camp at Holminden. He is a German, being born in Lorraine, but lived in Paris from 1899 to 1909." Miss Rout cannot see the relevance of - this. The position -is that birth on the soil is the leading determinant of nationality in British and American (U.S.A.) law, while the nationality of the father is the leading determinant in countries which have accepted the Roman principles of jurisprudence. The main difficulty has been the I claim of the original country, (such as Germany) to exact military service, and Britain extends no protection to naturalised persons who return to their native country to take up arms.