JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 823, 23 May 1910, Page 8

JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

SCHOOLS' MEDICAL INSPECTION. a . THE BAYLY MEMORIAL. (Br TeleffrapH.—Special Oorrcacondfliii.l Wanganui, May 21. Referring to the demand for medical inspection of school children, Chief Inspector Braik, in reporting to tho Wanganui Education Board, states that it is to bo hoped that before the effects of bodily disorder are treated the causes (so far as they may be attributable to school conditions) will be grappled with. So long as thero are Schools—and these are .not few—with insufficient breathing space, with lights wrongly placed, and seats wrongly constructed, with playgrounds wet and sloppy, and with inadequate drainage, so long will schools produce those disorders which' it is now,proposed to remove by medical aid. In Great Britain medical inspection of school children has been shown to ho beneficial, but it is open to question whether in New Zealand the first appropriations for this purpose should not be spent in improving school buildings and equipment, and so remove one of the causes that make medical inspection necessary. To perpetuate the memory of , tho famous Taranaki footballer, the late Alf. Bayly, a movement (as reported some time ago) is on foot in Taranaki to institute a Bayly memorial scholarship, and efforts are being made to raise such, a sum that the interest will be sufficient to provide for the higher education of a pupil every two years. Athletic efficiency will bo considered as well as mental ability in tho allotment of the scholarship. Tho Wanganui Education Board has jurisdiction over a considerable portion of the Taranaki district, and has decided to voto £5 per year to the scholarship for the first holder, provided that such grant i 6 authorised by. the Education Department.