MIRAMAR SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 284, 26 August 1922, Page 6

MIRAMAR SCHOOL

UNFURLING OF FLAG TRIBUTES TO COMMITTEE Miramar School was the scene of two pleasing ceremonies yesterday; the unfurling of a flag by the Minister of Education (Hon. C. J. Parr), and the opening of a bazaar and sale of work in aid of the school funds by His Worship the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright). Mr. R. McKeen, chairman of the ■ Miramar School Committee, in wglcom-• ing the Minister of Education and the . Mayor, stated that as the Education Department had omitted to erect a flag pole, and tho residents of Miramar had considered a flag pole an essential part of the school equipment, the committee had got to work and tho omission had been remedied. The bazaar was being held to raise funds for the ’ further improving of the school grounds. Mr, Parr, who was enthusiastically received, said that he had snatched a few moments from Parliament to be present at the ceremony. He con- ’ gratulated the committee on its energy and enterprise, and remarked that it: may well stand as a model for other .• school conuasKtees. He exhorted tha children to regard their flag as tho symbol of an Empire—the greatest in the world —that has consistently stood for justice, truth, .and, right, and which, when civilisation itself was <Jn* dangered, stood in the breach without hesitation and never flinched. He in* stanced the way in which the British race endeavours to educate and uplift and develop the black races. He asked the children to respect ths flag. People ought to regard the country m which they live as t ie very best country in the world. The side they took in politics was nothing compared with their being good citizens. He pointed. , out that there was no other country •' where the same facilities were afforded to all children to allow them to rise-* from the lowest positions to the highest. He left with them the message to be good loyal citizens of the Em-. pire and of their country, New Zealand. Mr. Parr then unfurled the flag and a verse of the National Anthem was sung. • , , ' > The Mayor paid a tribute to the work performed by the Hon. Mr. Parr as Minister of Education, and also to the Miramar School Committee for its - abundant pnergy. He considered that Miramar had one of the finest schools in the whole of the Dominion. He ’ instanced how the British flag was a source of protection to the downtrodden and persecuted of certain other nations.

Mr. W. Smith, headmaster of thg school, said that in all his thirty years’ school experience he had never worked under a better or a more enthusiastio committee than the present one. The opening of the bazaar and sale of work was then proceeded with,> and Mr. Wright congratulated the ladies on the success o' their erdeavXuTS.