TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 107, 2 November 1926, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

From all points of view the office of Director of Education is one of the most important administrative positions in New Zealand. ,Education policy affects every child in the Dominion, it influences eommorce and industry, and it most certainly affects finance. At present the higher education policy of New Zealand is somewhat indefinite. It is generally recognised that tho introduction of an extensive free-place system was made too hastily, without adequate provision for bigger schools or for courses suitable to the new types of pupils who thus gained admission to the colleges. Under the directorship of Mr. Caughley the foundation work has been laid for a better edifice, but tho erection of the superstructure is still far from complete. The new Director will require to be a man capable of. guiding this work. From the viewpoints of numbers and also cost the primary schools are tlis most important section of our education system. Without under-rating that importance, we ; ■ suggest that when the choice of a new Director is niado particular attention should be given to the necessity for bringing the primary schools into closer touch with the secondary and technical. To continue sending hundreds of pupils to secondary schools where they receive little benefit is not true education. It is actually wasteful, since it hinders t'ia entry of these young people to the occupations for which they are best suited. Without greater expenditure, and possibly with less, it should be possible to obtain greater value from the postprimary education system. The lines have been laid down and 'it is now necessary to work steadily to the plan.

Some indication of progress towards the liquidation of the cold-stored stocks of. New Zealand butter in London is contained in a cablegram received by the New Zealand Dairy Producers' Board and published in this issue. Stocks of New Zealand are quoted in the cablegram as bei j 350,000 boxes, which is only a little over half the figure (650,000), cabled' when the depression first began to mai;e itself felt. What happened during, the winter and spring of- 1926 was that, for the first time in three'years, the niarket failed to rise, lifting on. its back the speculative holdings of certain New Zealand dairy companies. For two seasons the holding policy had proved profitable, but in 1926 receded from 170s to 140-150s, instead of rising from 170s to over 200s. Whether the stored stocks were heavier this year —comparative figures are not available —or whether the prime cause was the strike, or general price-fall, or a London conspiracy to fight the control movement by a pre-control "squeeze" of holders, has been iiotly debated, but practically all sides were agreed on the need of an orderly liquidation of old butter to clear the way -or thi now make. Such progress as has been made is indicated above. Will the balance be cleared on the 2s margin cabled? The multiple shops still buy "hand to mouth," and November is here.

It is gratifying to learn from the Mayor that comment upon the proposal to make a road through the Gardens is premature, and that the proposal is not much more than a "one-day possibility.'? At the same time, citizens who view the proposal with disfavour havo not been without -ground for alarm. According to Councillor Semple, plans have been prepared and a survey made, and some of the. Councillors have paid aji official visit to the locality. This surely is sufficient to warrant a protest, if a protest is not to be delayed until the work is in progress. Citizens had no warning of the proposals to re-plan Kent Terrace Reserve. They awoke one morning to find the work in'progress. That lesson they are unlikely to; forget quickly. Possibly there may be much "premature comment upon Council proi>osals in the future, but that will be preferable to protests which are <so late as to be ineffective.

The drama of man and machinery has hardly yet progressed beyond the first act. Man has been defined as

tho tool-using animal of the globe, and it is only in the logical order of things that tho machine should succeod the tool. From tool-using 'to machine-using is but a step; and though the Japanese delegation to America raises a neat point when it asks whether men arc using machines or machines men, and though it seems a shame to dispute a good epigram', yet any reasoned analysis of the situation will result in no doubt as to who the user is. Mankind', benefits at tho manufacturer's end and at the consumer's end; and surely the lot of an employee engaged in well-paid repetitive work during a shoit-liourecl, well-paid day is preferable .to that #of a poorly-paid employee on-longer hours. The man in need of mental variety, given leisure, should be aulo to find it. The man not leaning, towards it will get little of it in any case. To prevent mankind from being machined into one pattern, all tho resources of individual character are arrayed against an industrial environment which is only partial in its scope, for mass production by' machinery is by no means of universal application.