THE BELGIAN FAIR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2836, 29 July 1916, Page 3

THE BELGIAN FAIR

MINISTER'S APPRECIATION OF CHILDREN'S GREAT EFFORT. The big Produce Fair in the Town Hall, arranged by the headmasters, teachers, and scholars of the schools ill tho AS'elliugton Education District, had another boom afternoon and evening yesterday, .and the amount of money being realised is exceeding everyone's expectations. On Thursday the cash takings amounted to .1:522, and yesterday the receipts amounted to j;572—,£318 being taken in the afternoon <iud .£254 in tho evening. The receipts for the two days total .£lO7l. Thougli the place was very crowded yesterday, the conditions were hardly so bad as they were when the school children were present in such force. A quarter of an hour after the dors opened yesterday the Town Hall was filled, and excellent business was being-.done at every stall.

Tlie Minister of Education (the Hon. J. A. Hanan), who was unable to be present oil the opening day, visited the Fair yesterday afternoon, and after a good look round, said to a Dominion" reporter that the Fair had been happily conceived and well organised, and reflected credit alike upon: the teachers and children. He said that on Thursday he had arranged for the sum of J25100 to be cabled Home to the proper authorities. Further Bums would be transmitted as they were received by, the Department, and he anticipated that a very handsome total would be reached, a total that yould make every man and woman in the Dominion proud of the Jioble instincts that had prompted their children to make sacrifices in so worthy a cause. This was the second time during the war that the school-children had been appealed to. They, at the outbreak of the wai, provided sufficient funds to purchase fine motor ambulances, besides other accessories, and those motors liad done very excellent service in Egypt, and were probably still doing great work in France. It was Tory gratifying to find that all classes of schools wero participating in the present response, to see the Maori children cooperating witii the pakeha, and to find that even the smallest schools were cntributing surprisingly large sums of money, far more than their most sanguine anticipations led them to expect. Only yesterday he had received a sum contributed by girls attending a Maori college. Thoy were absent on vacation when the appeal came, but on returning to school hastened to assist.

Mr. Hanan said he regardoff the sacrifice of the children of Neiv Zealand as indicative that our coming men and women will be self-sacrificing, intensely patriotic, end filled with noble sympathies and aspirations. It was particularly gratifying _ to him, as Minister of Education, to find how- eagerly and liberally the children, of Hew Zealand had responded to the various appeals that had been made to them, for although, he might think that certain educational reforms may be necessary or desirable, the response the children had made must forco a.ny thoughtful person to the conclusion that the trend of our educational aim must be true. The self-sacrifice of the parents of those 2,000,000 starving Belgian children, for whom they were striving to provide relief, gained for the Belgians immortal fame, and saved the greater part of France from being overrun by the Hun invaders and our own Britain from being brought nearer the German guns. Auction Sale To-Day. As there wero still large quantities of goods unsold last evening, it was decided that they should be disposed of by auction at the Town Hall, commencing at 10 o'clock this morning.