PUBLIC SCHOOL ASSISTANTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 84, 2 January 1918, Page 2

PUBLIC SCHOOL ASSISTANTS

FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE.

The fourth annual meeting of the New Zealand Public Schools Assistant Masters' Association was held in the Normal School, Thorndon, yesterday, Mr. E. H. Ballachey, 8.A., president, in the chair. There were also present dolegates from Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Canterbury, ond Otago. Tlie president, in opening the proceedings, welcomed the visiting delegates to Wellington, and made feeling reference to those patriotic assistants who had loyally made the supreme sacrifice in responding to the Empire's call. The representatives, all standing, paid a silent tribute. The annual report and balance-sheet as read were adopted, a pteasing feature of the balance-sheet being that the amount to credit was in tho region of £20.

Many of the remits before the conference wore discussed nt great length, and evidenced a keen and lively interest in educational matters by assistants generally. The following were agreed to:—(a) That widows' pensions bo increased to £52 per annum; (b) that schools should be limited to 550 pupils and that classes under the control of one teacher should be limited to 40; (c) that it is advisable that the ryllabus should be reduced; (d) that the standard set by the Department as illustrated by the proficiency, English, and arithmetic cards is beyond the scope of Standard VI pupils; (e\ that the scholarship, free place, and proficiency examinations now- held should be dispensed with, that one uniform synchronous examination take the place of and_ that there be a choice of questions in all subjects set for that examination; (f) that teachers be placed on the same footing as other State servants with regard to sick pay and sick leave; (g) that inspectors be given more definite instructions ■■with regard k> the interpretation of "environment" in the grading scheme.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS. It was resolved that the principal officers of the executive be elected from one centre, and that for the ensuing year that centre be Wellington. The following officials were elected:— President, Mr. J. C. Burns, Wellington; secretary, Mr. B. T. Blake, M.A., Wellington; treasurer, Mr. G. It. aidson, Wellington; vice-president for South Island, Mr. N. T. Penlington, Canterbury; vice-president for North Island, Mr. F. W. Hare, Auckland; executive, Mr. H. Miller (Wellington), Mr. F. W. Abel (Otago), Mr. R. Malcolm (Christehurch), Mr. F. A. Garry (Hawke's Bay), Mr. H. W. Crawford (Auckland). A vote of thanks to the _ outgoing executive concluded the business.

The thirty-fifth annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute will be opened at the Masonic Hall, Boulcott Street, to-day, at 10 a.m. The speakers will include the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke, 0.M.G.) and Mr. F. 11. Bakewell (senior inspector of schoels).

SINGING AS AN AID TO ACTING : WHAT MARIE TEMPEST SAYS. Thei;e is nothing like singing for giving a woman poise. Nothing like it ' for correcting a faulty diction or im- . proving a good enunciation of her language. As people grow more and more in the habit of ail applied psychology, ! the value of breathing—wliether you 1 call it Yogi breathing or refer to it in veiled and mysterious terms as an exercise having something very fiinda- ; mental to do with the solar plosus, or : wliether you simply are a sane, sensible person trying to do, your best with that equipment which it has pleased heaven to bestow upon you, you place more and more emphasis upon the value of proper breathing. ' „ "Were all actresses drill«i in the 1 fundamentals of singing—of which breathing is the first and final element," said Miss Tempest, "we should hear no gasping, panting, stumbling readings of the lines of Shakespeare, for example. Have you not again and again been afflicted with agonies in listening to young actresses who can't,, to save their immortal souls, phrase a single line of Shakespearean verse without a shortness of breatli that robs tho divine cadence of its melody and its meaning? That's because the poor girl has never learned to phrase in .singing. . . '

'.'Show me an actress whose diction is like that of the good little girl'in the fairy tale from whose lips fell pearls and diamonds, and I will show you an actress who learned to sing before she learned to act.'.' Miss Tempest was asked whether the reward was as great in the spoken play as the musical one. ' ' ' . "More," she cried, emphatically, "much more. A voice, since you credit.me with having one—a voice is alwayir a -tyranny. It registers each mood, it ■ reflects each emotion of a singer. If something goes wrong with the scenery or your entrance isn't a success, your throat dries up, and alt the art, all the knowledge, all the will power you possess won't control

the wicked little vocal cords that refuse to obey your orders and produce the effect you want them to accomplish. And such a dreadful trick as voices have of getting out of.order, too. If you neglect your work for a few weeks—or • even for a few daysback you must go, as Melba says, 'to pap,' and sing scales and do breathing exercises.and the very first fundamentals of voice training before that tyrannical gift is at its hest again. No, indeed, I am not sorry that my operatic 'yesterday' lias 'passed into the •limbo of things forgot.' "