THE COMPETITION REVIEWED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 32, 8 February 1928, Page 18

THE COMPETITION REVIEWED.

MANY INCORRECT "CORRECTIONS." DISAPPOINTING WORK IN JUNIOR SECTION. 5 " Dear Boys and Girls,— Plenty of mistakes were to be found in the Nonsense Tale, and plenty of mistakes you did discover. I was somewhat astonised, however, to see that some which I had considered the most obvious you omitted altogether to mention—for instance, the story does not bear out its title "A Week in the Country," being merely a description of their trip and the arrival at the farm. Another peculiar fact is that competitors often corrected mistakes which were not there. "No paddock is four acres large," I read in one entry. There are numerous country readers who could contradict this statement. Another wrote, "Cows are not frightened of cars." If that is so, I wonder what makes them jump through fences at the approach of a motor? Elsewhere on the page appears a list of the chief mistakes in the story. This contains seventy, one more than the number found by Nellie Dromgool, winner in Section A. It may be mentioned here that the longest lists were not necessarily the best. Many were so depleted by correction that they had to take a lower place than their bulk would indicate. Loma Vipond followed closely, separated only by two marks. Doris Brown and John Johnstone are two other names which appear among the winners. Section B was disappointing. A high enough standard was apparent among the winning entries. But with the rank and file this seemed to have been completely lost. A descent from thirty marks to twenty is too sudden, even among, the juniors. Arthur Osborne, the winner, found sixty-five mistakes, of which I marked fifty-six correct. As in Section A, second place is two marks lower; this is occupied by Joan Coles, following her are Jim Middleton and Yvonne Brown. Readers will be glad to see another painting competition. The subject this time is an Oriental one. ■ ■ See what you can do to improve j&fj f upon the black and white sketch of X/y two Indian boys with their baskets f vr/> Ift A. of fruit. Colour will make all the difference to this picture.