Shirley B.H.S. Head On Impressions Of Tour

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30294, 21 November 1963, Page 25

Shirley B.H.S. Head On Impressions Of Tour

Impressions of a trip j through 21 countries were L given members of the Christchurch Tin Hat dub by the headmaster of Shirley Boys' High School (Mr C. Gallagher). Mr Gallagher was guest speaker in place | of Dr. O. C. Mazengarb, who is 111 in Wellington. The club is to send a telegram wishing him a speedy recovery. Giving what he described as personal opinions only. Mr Gallagher said that while . travelling in the northern 1 States of America he saw: something of the racial problem confronting the country. He believed the black and white races would never I come together and that this | could well be the final problem in the world. There Was a dreadful division and the gap was widening rather i than closing. Mr Gallagher said he believed partition I might be the final solution.

The resurgeace of West Germany he considered frightening. Everywhere, said Mr Gallagher, there was a grim, relentless efficiency towards progress It w.as not pleasant, he said. It had been seen before and one must beware of it. Israel impressed him as a ; lonely country which . seemed ready to do anything • to win friends. Apart from irrigation, a major problem in Israel was education. Many refugees there came from the ghettos of North Africa poor and illiterate. Their children were receiv- • ing an education and other privileges. He believed the incresing delinquency rate of the country was largely jiue ' to parents having either a . lack of appreciation, or » resentment, of the privileges the children were getting Mr Gallagher said New Zealand was very complacent about its education system. He did not think most New Zealanders fully realised the race they were in and the need for improvement to the system. The Dominion's per capita financial outlay on education was small compared with many overseas countries. New Zealand teachers worked as hard as others anywhere and gave as good a return as others yet they did not seem to be properly appreciated by the country Mr Gallagher said his trip overseas was the result of a Woolf Fisher fellowship. Apart from this, nothing was being done for education or teachers by private bodies and the fellowship, now in its third year, was greatly appreciated by the profession.