SCHOOL ESSAYS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17940, 7 December 1923, Page 11

SCHOOL ESSAYS.

NAVY LEAGUE COMPETI-

TIONS

The report 01 the Essay.-> mittee was considered at the me<-ti of the Navy League last night. stated that seven essays wore in the senior and m junior sions 01 the secondary school '■ file results were : Senior division, class A. J- a " ("West Christchurcb D.H.iJ.) 1 -

Dowling (St. Andrew's College) Junior division, class E. den ('West Christchurdi D.H.Js- 0 ' It. Stone (St. Andrew's College) The judge- of the. senior divisioii. •J. B. Mayne. awarded Mr J. Jgall's challenge bowl to the Chrisichurch District High c , The subject set was "Discuss tne a vantages and disadvantages oi => pore as a naval base. Mr Mayne said that some oi the candidates lost marks through the in dtiction of much irrelevant raat-tei. on the other hand the essays ot first three on the list, (West Christchurch D.H.b.; b f n > placed third were distinctly credita e. Mr W. Douglass Andrews, the judfee of the junior division, stated tnat Mabel Bowden submitted a deserving little essay. In his r-pinion the su ject—"The sea is our life. By the l |S© of it the Empire was formed. -t»y holding it the Empire has been preserved. If we fail to appreciate us value the Empire will perish ' wa9 rather too vague and general for such young children, and the result was that most of them wrote rather rctinu about than on the subject. Their work showed very little evidence ot first-hand knowledge or of genuine interest in the Navy and its doings, but was for the most part scrappy _ , aIU : platitudinous. He should be inclined to set something much more specific. Regarding the primary schools the report stated that 34 schools sent m 124 essays. Mr T. W. Rowe, the supervisor, stated that he had no need to disagree with any decision of the headmasters, who selected the essays in order of merit. They had made their choice with judgment and discrimination. The qualitv of the essays varied considerably. Most of the better essays came from the larger schools, but quite an encouraging number of really good essays were sent in by scholars attending small schools. It was quite evident that in many schools' the competition aroused great interest and that the pupils were eager to do credit to their respective schools by sending in work that though it might be immature and artless should, at any rate, display something of the spirit of patriotism and devotion to duty that the Navy League and the Victoria League endeavoured to inculcate.