NEW ZEALAND LADY TEACHERS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15223, 10 March 1915, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND LADY TEACHERS.

A WELCOME TO LONDON

CFBOU OTTR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, February 2. . Miss M. Caskey (Timarti), Miss_C. Lindsay (Timaru), Miss J. Swap (Tβmuka, and Miss Holland , (Christchnrch) have taken up positions under the Lon--1 don County Council Education Committee as unattached teachers for one year. The three first-mentioned ladie? are travelling together and have just completed one year in a similar capacity in Brandon, under th© Manitoba Edncation Authority. Miss Caskey tells m© that they went to Canada under the auspices of the Hands Across the Sea Movement. They spent the whole of 1914 in Brandon, and enjoyed the exoerienco immensely. The Canadian " teaching system is totally different from that of New Zealand, and it is impossible to joffer any comparisons between the two. The Canadian echooW are rated differently from those in New Zealand; the Canadian teachers have their own class and rooms, and are not brought very much into contact with ', the school as a whole. I

t The Misses Caskey, Lindsay, and Swap have settled in the Bayswater district and have just begun duties in adjoin ing L.C.C. schools. In tho ordinary course of things thero would have beon an oxchange of teachers, but owing to the war the London teachers cannot be spared, and so the New Zealand ladies have joined the unattached list. Here again tho school work is totally different from that of New Zealand, but they say they are delighted to be in England. They are very much pleasec , with the kindness shown them by- the London Education Committee, from which body they received a ■welcome laGt week. : i ■ i

j '*' Gi,bort . the chairman, tendered to the ladies a hearty welcome on behalf of the committee. A few months ago, ho said, when welcoming eimilaj visitors from Canada, he had congratulated them on the coincidence of their visit with tho arrival of a largo number of Canadian troops, who had come over to take their part in the war, and hr was glad that the present visit practiPally .coincided with th G share which -New Zealand in particular had had in th ° Rreafc naval battle. All parts of the Empire were prepared to work together in war and in peace: and he wouid remind the ladies that their presence in London was a tribute to the silent work of the Navy. It was very significant that while this war was gomgon the London educational authority was arranging in the most peaceful way for tho transfer of teachers from all parts of the Empire to its centre. They would find very little change in the schools of London as a consequence of

the war, except in one striking particular—the fact that the staffs in their noys- schools had been very largely de pleted by the excellent number of their assistants who had volunteered for ser vice in the war. Already 982 of then masters had entered ur>on military eerr '<*e, and 207 more were in course of doing so.