TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 59, 7 September 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Otago's University Council has definitely decided to accept Dignity and Mr. Studholme's Domestic Science, much-debated offer of a subsidy for three years for the foundation of a chair of domestic science afc Dunedin, and the giver has been authorised to make an appointment. The university authorities, with the assurance of assistance from the State and a call on their funds, to produce a total of about £1000 a year, are committed to the domestic course, and New Zealand is to be the witness of_ jan interesting experiment. Some critics in Dunedin have been pitiless in their remonstrance. One allegation was that the granting of honours for the arts and science of domesticity would entail a •'cheapening" of degrees. The flaunting of the argument which asserts that it is "unclassical" to bestow a Suffix of letters upon students who have achieved distinction in the study and practice of domestic economy is one of the chief reasons why a strenuous effort should be made to raise the slatus of the domestic arts. Shrewd observers say that the domestic servant problem, for example, is not due so much to any increasing dislike of gtrls for housework as to their' distaste for duties which— they fancy— are held in little esteem by society. This matter was touched by the Minister of Education recently, when ha admitted that it was not proper to give boys and girls exactly the same kind of education from the primary schools onwards, but pleaded that publio opinion stood in the way of reasonable and> desirable differentiation. He practically said that so long as a smattering of algebra vras held in higher regard than a knowledge of dietetics the teachers would continue to give the algebra. "Ask for domestic economy, and you shall receive it," was his attitude towards the public, and in commenting on the utterance we gave an opinion that it was sometimes possible to convince the public that cheese was better than chalk as an item of diet. It is feared that the syllabus at Dunedin may not attract many students in the near future, but even with a very meagre number the chair may well be justified by the dignity which it cannot fail to bestow on a vital profession which has not been sufficiently respected. With kindly intention, a correspondent, aware that The Post Anthems for had an article a few New Zealand, days ago about the lack of a really national anthem of New Zealand, supplies the words and music of one dedicated in 1887 by tho Caledonian Society of Wellington to Sir William Jervois, then Governor of the colony, whose name is perpetuated in Jefvois-quay, at least. "I suppose it is almost forgotten by now," submits the correspondent. It is. It has gone into the limbo for the simple reason that it contained no specific New Zealand colour or sentiment, nothing to stir the people of these islands "as New Zealanders. The words would have been equally applicable to Tasmania, Victoria, or South Africa, and also to Canada,, but in the last case one slight alteration would have been 'required — "northern" for "southern" in the line "Light of the southern sea" — and in each transposition, of course, a change from "New Zealand" to the name of the other country. The first verse runs : Onward! New Zealand ever, Marching with dauntless heart; OnVmrd! New Zealand, never JFrom Freedom's path depart. Light of the Southern Sea Home of the brave and free, Glorious and great to be! Oirwaid! New Zealand ever. Curiously, but not surprisingly, the words were written by a man of Dundee, but the music was composed in Wellington. The product was termed "New Zealand Anthem," but the label does not make the goods. It is a quaint commentary on the enterprise of New Zealanders that several — possibly the majority — of tho so-called anthems have been wrought by comparatively new arrivals in the country or by not very melodious birds of passage. The pqint The Post chiefly made in the article was the dearth of appealing, enduring quality rather than in quantity of the "national" songs. The need is not for a bald and colourless chorus, but ' for a song in which at least a little of New Zealand's history, a little of New Zealand's grandeur of scene, a little of New Zealand's sentiment may be thrillingiy echoed. The people desire the stirring definite, and not the insipid generality, a song "glorious and great to be" by reason of its unmistakable Ntv Zealandness. Therefore, "Onward, New Zealand ever" towards a heart-moving lyric. A new eyllabus of training for cadets, including the little armies Soldiering of school boys, has been at School, approved by the Minister of Defence, but it is not yet clear whether the plans will fit in smoothly with the general educational scheme. Regulations were framed in the past, but friction inevitably occurred because the teachers believed that they had not been properly considered in the matter of co-ordinating the military and civil elements, and they had perplexing doubts about their status. Not many months have passed since the local headmasters made a strongly-worded protest against the number 'of spectacular par-a-dcs which they believed to be undue, and the argument was just as strongly combated. .Whether they errert or not in their estimate of undesirable developments in the cadet department, they certainly had right on their side when asking for better opportunities to use their minds and votes in the control of the cadet policy. We have always gladly conceded that well-planned military exercise can do much good to growing boys by improving their physique and, still more, by accustoming them to the value of discipline and self-control, but this portion of a boy's training for life in the workaday world must be made to fit in with the other parts of his ■couvße. It must t»e largely at the die-

-cretion of those to whom the parents are more and more delegating the task of strongly moulding their children's character. The best way to ensure success for the cadet movement is to get it on to a basis, which fair and broadminded teachers can regard as reasonable, ensuring valuable military training without cutting unduly into the general educational work, but rather making the boy a better student of "the three R's" by strengthening his physical and mental health. Even now, while the experts are busy with new rules for the cadets, the criticism of the general syllabus goes on unabated. It is very obvious that the whole subject of the school curriculum for the boys (and girls as well) can bear some searching discussion, which should be given at the projected conference early next year.