LEADERS' THOUGHTS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 6

LEADERS' THOUGHTS

WHAT PEOPLE SAY VALUE OF THE FILM IN EDUCATION (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 2Sth December. Lord Oxford and Asquith, at the Boyal Commercial Travellers' Schools, Pinner: The Commercial traveller has sometimes been called the ambassador of commerce. lam sure that if we are to go into the language of metaphor he might be more properly called the missionary, and, as regards not a few of the infinitely diverse branches which British trade' comprises, . the pioneer. (Cheers.). . ■: : . On its intellectual side, education ought to develop two faculties—observation and memory. There is nothing more important than that children, while at school, should keep their ears and eyes open to the sights and sounds of the daily life which surrounds them whether in country or in town.. That was quite as important as book-learning or physical training. Great advances have been made in this matter. There are the Boy Scouts .and Girl Guides, and those attractive little appendages known by the name of. "Brownies," who are taught to see what in the days of my own youth was hidden from many altogether. The idea at the root of these movements can be developed and acted upon far more than it is by the teachers. I have been surprised, and sometimes shocked, when playing golf and saying to the little caddie carrying.my clubs: "What bird is that we hear?" or "What is "that flower?" to meet with absolute ignorance in response. . . . Teachers ought to be equipped much more fully with all the new instruments of education which the growth of science and the progress of invention have placed at our disposal. As illustrations there are broadcasting and the film.

I am one of those who Relieve that the film ought to be made a.regular inj strument of .education in our schools. We cannot teach- hißtory, geography, !' natural history, even in their most elei mentary features, half so well by word of mouth, maps, and diagrams, as if the teacher were provided, as he could be at a comparatively moderate cost, with a film showing, for example, the life of a bee, or a nasturtium, or stirring scenes of English history. 'We are a very conservative nation. (Laughter.) Not a bad thing, too! ... I am satisfied.that the only way in which this country can maintain and advance beyond all previous experience the supremacy which it used to haVe, and which it has not.yet lost, in industrial as well us in artistic and other intellectual forms of progress, is to bo quick to seize and practical to apply all the new resources that science and invention place at our disposal. 1 (Cheers.) THE SPIRIT OF CO-OPEKA.TION. The Australian Premier,, at the EngI lish and Scottish joint Co-operative Wholesale Society: I believe the whole basis of the future of this country and >f the British Empire is a greater spirit of co-opera-tion in every walk of life. The great thing achieved at the Imperial* Confcronco was the removal of doubts and suspicions and the bringing about of a spirit of co-operation and unity among all the self-governing parts of the Empire. ■[ The clouds which were on the horizon have, I believe, been entirely dispelled. I am confident that we are entering on a new era in the history of the British Empire, and that the Empire is going forward to a greater [ destiny than it has over knowu. The Imperial Conference has removed the political and constitutional difficulties which liavo existed in the belief of so many people, and has paved the way to fuller co-operation in vital things— }n regard to our economic position and our trade and commerce. Our position in the councils of the nations is not owing to our strength in arms, but to tlie pre-cniinencc we have won as a commercial and industrial people, and to this same causo wo have to look for our position in the future. There is nothing we cannot accomplish with tho spirit of co-operation. Wo have to think what lines we should follow in the future, and I am certain they liavo to bo along the path of Imperial co-operation and the expansion of Imperial trade. Greater co-operation will give an opportunity of bringing about the restoration of British trade. THE IDEALS OF YOUTH. Lord Heading, at (he City of London Co'Hcge. prize-giving: I believe in good advice, but I am not sure that, given in large uoses, it is .not apt to surfeit. I am merely standing bofore you as one who started life very much like yourselves, and who had no conception of what was to happen in tho future —who stepped out on the bottom rung of tho ladder, just as most of you will have to do. All I would say to you is, abovu all things, to remember that in these days, when competition is keener in tho world's commerce with us than perhaps it has ever been in the history of our trade relations, efficiency must be the purpose to keep in mind. Slovenly work is always tho hardest; precise work takes the least timo and gives the greatest I reward. You must concentrate not only in mind, but also in purpose. Add to this—courage. Whatever difficulties you may meet in life you should novor despair. You must not think, because the situation you want, and thought you would get, and were entitled to receive, passes you by and goes lo another, that you are unlucky. Really it ought to spur you on to greater efforts!. Whatever difficulties you meet with, let. them be a jumping-off point for the achievement of something greater. I have the greatest faith in idealism. In the training the students are now receiving they are helping in the development of the commercial success of this country, and it means more than that: it means the commercial success of tho Empire, for London remains, and must always remain, the groat and important centre of tho commerce of the world. In striving to build up a reputation for efficiency in the work that is done, and contributing your share to it, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you aye helping, however humbly, in the work that is so.important for this country, and the Empire, and that your little mite is going to contribute to the great whole that must eventually make for the prosperity and happiness of all.

FINAL DEFEAT OF CLASS DIVISION. The Eight Hon. L. S. Amery (Secretary for Dominion Affairs), opening a unionist Working Men's Club: Conservatism does not mean the more dead adherence, to things just as they were. What it does menu is an understanding of the fact that our national life and our institutions are something living, and when a thing is living we cannot improve it by continually tearing it up by the roots. There was a time in the -heyday of the old free trade Liberal individualism when it was believed by the capitalist that the essential condition of high profits lay in low wages. Sever was a greater error made. Good wages, accompanied by good work, as the United States had shown, are the secret of industrial prosperity, not only for the working man, but equally for the_ employer, shopkeoper, and for every class. I hope and pray most sincerely that after a year which has witnessed the

final failure, as I hope, of the teaching of that doctrine of class division and of those hopes to overthrow the industrial and political system by the general strike, and by the long drawn out stoppage, a sobered nation may face Christmas Day in a spirit of goodwill, and with a readiness to pull together for the common good iv the New Year. BRITAIN'S BEST CADETS. Lord Jellicoe (president of the National Eifle Association), presenting the Lady Roberts trophy to the Depot Eoyal Marines Cadet Corps: The principal object cf the National Eitie Association is the promotion and encouragement of rifle shooting throughout the King's Dominions There is°no better, way of fulfilling this duty thau by endeavouring to ensure that the youth of tlve British Empire, who, in the next generation, may be called on to be its defenders, should be prepared in one direction, at any rate, to assume that.task. These competitions have a wide Imperial nature, and are firmly established in the Dominions overseas. The element of sportsmanship and friendly rivalry brought about by this vast annual "test match" between the Motherland and each of the Dominions cannot fail to assist' to draw closer those ties of Empire which unite us with our kith and kin oversea. Next year representative teams of 3000 British boys will strive to secure the King's Trophy for their own country; The total number of boys competing this year was some 30,000. The performance of the Depot Eoyal Marines Cadet Corps was not only a remarkably fine one, but it was unique, because in the history of these competitions no single unit had ever before come so near to winning all the trophies open to it. I am not surprised at the success of these boys, for no one knows better than myself tho fine spirit of the corps from which they spring, and of which I hope many of them may one day be members; ths encouragement and assistance they receive from all ranks at the depot, the ■ traditions and esprit de corps they inherit, and the excellence of the instruction they receive are factors which cannot fail to go far to ensure success, but I must not forget the credit due to them for their own keenness and hard work.