SCHOOL JOURNAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 113, 12 May 1917, Page 11

SCHOOL JOURNAL.

CURTAILMENT NECESSARY. (Special to " Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. War conditions arc responsible for the suspension of the Labour Department's monthly journal, and the .Minister of Education (Hon. J. A. Hanan) announces that it will be necessary to curtail the issue of the "School Journal," because the shortage of paper renders it necessary to conserve supplies, in order to ensure continued publication in diminished numbers. "Any such step I view with regret," remarked the Minister, "for I recognise that the "Journal" has an educational value not possessed by ordinary reading books, which cannot provide up-to-date reading matter on current events. Indeed, for this the "Journal" is displacing miscellaneous readers in many schools, and thus relieving parents of the cost of such books. That the "School Journal" is highly appreciated and eagerly looked forward to by pupils in public schools I know from personal experience, and that its educational value is widely recognised is shown by the fact that the authorities of two hundred private schools purchase it for the use of their pupils. In the country it reaches almost every home, and parents read Part 111. with as much interest as their children. Not the least among its admirers are the children in the native schools." It was intended to appoint un associate editor for the "School Journal," but the Hon. J. A. Hanan explained to your correspondent that this position will not be filled at present, owing to the difficulties of publishing during the war. Temporary arrangements will, however, be made to assist the editor, Mr. W. E. Ppeneer. M.A., M.Sc -who has had charge of the publication since its inception in 1907. The Minister referred to the scrupulous care taken to verify every fact mentioned in the "Journal." for. as he put it, every child, teacher, and. indeed, every parent, looks at it through a maemifving glaiss. The verification of facts takes a trreat deal of time, and the task of prnvidinir illustrations of topical interest often takes longer than the provision of reading matter.