PATRIOTISM IN SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17223, 13 August 1921, Page 8

PATRIOTISM IN SCHOOLS.

NAVY LEAGUE INFLUENCE. STATEMENT BY HON. C. J. PARR. (special TO rß f s -"> 19 AUCKLAND, August 12. After unfurling a Union_ Jack premarket school, the JMi . t on had some cwmeri. tc, mrteta large gathering present on the u j of patriotism in the sch°o . Mr Parr said he had been criticised in certain quarters for not Navy League out of the schools.There were some foolish peop.e v> ° was wrong to encourage ideas . British Navy in the minds of the children, but he took full responsibility for facilitating the Leagues ideas reaching the schools. Many people did not realise what the nation ow ie Navy League. In his judgment, it was the influence of the Leagues propaganda in Great Britain that way largely responsible for the victoiy m 10 Great War. The Nary League would have access to the school children of New Zealand, because he believed it possessed the ability to young people of the country of the epic of the Navy, and all that the Navy had done for British freedom and justice in the last 400 or suo years"l entirely agree with my mends and neighbours who long for the craj when there shall be no war, said Mr Parr "and I endorse the idea of a League of Nations.'* These however, were not yet, and it was incumbent in the meantime to ensure maintenance of the Empire's traditions by relying on preparedness against foreign aggression. Though free from German trouble, the world was not free from all trouble. There were indications that the storm centre wag shifting from one ocean to another, and there was a danger of the gravest trouble arising unless the greatest diplomatic care was exercised. 'School children now salute the flag once a week all over the country," concluded the Minister, "and teachers take the opportunity, I hope, of telling them what it stands for, and the lessons of history it teaches. On the whole, the British Empire stands for the finest ideala of justice the world has ever known." (Applause.)