ADVICE TO NEW ZEALANDERS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19813, 28 December 1929, Page 12

ADVICE TO NEW ZEALANDERS.

# ___ EDUCATION. PEACE, THE CHURCHES. MINISTER'S PARTING MESSAGE. [THB PRBSB SpecUl Berric« 1 DUNEDIN", Dcccmhor 27^. Tho Rev. plied tho pulpit of Kno X Church for the past nine months, is leaving again for the Homeland. During his atay in this city ho has shown himself to be an ardent student, a keen observer, and n constructive critic, and a parting message from him to the people of this citv is of more than ordinary interest, more especially as the views expressed apply to tho Dominion as « whole. , ~ ~ Speaking first of education, Mr Burn* said that he was pleased that Dunedin was very high-higher than my town at Home of equal aiae. Itappeared to him to possess the characteristics more of a unh-ersity town tli.'m of a commercial centr». Early Specialiatng. •But there aro two things which prompt me to criticise," he added. ''First, there is n tendency to encourage a specialised form of education aa against a more cultural form. The question has been asked : 'Why teach languages and literature to pupils entering commerce or going in for agriculture? Specialise in those things which -will fit them for the work they are taking up.' This, I hold, is a mistake. It is carried too far at Home. More and more men of business are going to public schools and universities for leaders. The specialised mind works in grooves; it is the broadlyeducated mind that can best adapt itself to the ever-changing condition* of commerce and of lifo " On Accent. "You pride yourselves justly on the absence of any disagreeable accent in your speech," continued Mr Burns, "but I have noticed in a great many Cases that the children do not apeak as their parents do. They seem increasingly to use a form of intonation which in the Old Country we call 'Cockney,' and which I was surprised to find disfiguring the speech of many of tho people in Australia. It would be a great gain if teachers and scholars could be encouraged to preserve a purity of accent of tlieir mother tongue, and if impure speech could be corrected at school by teachers who themselves are free of it." World Movement for Peace. Mr Burns went on to say that there were two directions in which public opinion in the Dominion seemed to lag behind that in the Old Country. Both wor» matters of great and increasing importance. "First," he said, "there is the movement for world peace. The old theory that if you want peace you must prepare for war is discredited. To prepare for war is to create tho atmosphere which produces it, and to create a class which encourages it. If you want peace, you must prepare for peace, and create a public opinion which will make war impossible. That m the hope of the future." He added that although defence was of urgent importance to New Zealand, because of its geographical situation, the present system would tend to breed the fire-eating type. After all New Zenland did not realise what the war was for during the venrs from 1!)14 t<> 191S blic was not, brought, into direct contact with the wnr and all its horrors ns was the Home country- this notwithstanding the .Dominion's groat and generous contribution of man power Church Union. "iho next movement to which I wish to refer concerns the union of Churches," went on Mr Burns. "In this respect also public opinion here soems tn lag. This movement towards a union is going to be the great movement of the future. Nationalism is giving way ;o internationalism; .science and philosophy alike are moving towards a unity of all thoughtnnd in the Church there is a rising demand for a union which will annihilate the old sectarian bickerings So far this movement seems to have touched the Church in \,. w Zealand lightly, but with its bomocr. population Now Zetland (should fi, lo it simpW to roach i compromise thin we at Home. She vhould be a leader n.t a laggard, in tho fiold. The dmire for unity is reallv growing very rapidly and the union of the Scottish Churches has civen the movement im mense impetus " "Vhen ouoKtioned whether he meant should unite. Mr Burns answered in the afnrmniivo. « At pnwnt ~ vom« |,ttlo ho.,e of rotting m thr. Roman Catholic CVumh," V „j'i . but the future must have thj, Cim ) -n *, ? ht. and all Clturrl.es will hj„ „ one.