KINDERGARTEN

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 55, 14 September 1928, Page 16

KINDERGARTEN

HONOLULU DELEGATES KEPOUT The conference of the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union was continued yesterday. Mrs. T. K. Sidcy presided, and special interest was taken iv the reports received from the delegates who attended tho Women's PanPacifiic Conference which concluded recently in Honolulu. Miss Dutrou (Dunedin) said that at this conference of women gathered from all countries of tho Pacific to consider conditions and problems of vital i'-''--irest, ten nat-im ? were r?.prcsontcd, and 134 people attended, all inspired with the international spirit. Mr. Hume Fordo, the outstanding figure in the Piiu-Pacific Union, was undoubtedly a genius, but a practical one; a man of wonderful vision and high purpose. She had been particularly proud as a New Zealander to hear the tributes paid to tho late Hon Mark Cohen, from whom had first come the suggestion that a woman's Pan-Pacific Conference should bo held. The speaker told of the various group discussions which took place on such subjects as health, women's labour I women in Government, home economics, the prc-school child, and the train ing of the adolescent child, and said that although there was a diversity of subjects the results of their discussions all seemed to dovetail. Sho had noticed nursery schools much • spoken of at the conference, and on inquiry found that these were very much the same as our kindergartens, but that in them the Americans went much further and made the nursery school almost a laboratory for experiments with the train ing of children. Perhaps America might be going to excess in this matter, but she felt that we in New Zea land were doing nothing, and that we must go much further in tho way of scientific experimentation. Some of the large American primary schools and kindergartens had a psychologist ou the staff who watched the children and consulted with the medical officer and the staff. She had found the eurriculums in kindergartens very much the same as ours, but the material was larger. In Honolulu itself work was being carried out on tho lines of the Plunket Soeicty in regard to the nutrition of children, and this was carried on into the schools. The delegation from New Zealand had spoken about the mothers' clubs, formed here as a. link between the kindergartens and the homes, and in this tho other delegates had been very much interested. The conference had been a very rich experience indeed. Miss Set-on (Wellington), tnc other. Kindergarten delegate to the conference, told many interesting and sometimes amusing incidents of their, stay in Honolulu. She mentioned the bad teeth which so many Japanese children had, due, it was said, to the wrong diet of the mothers before the child was born, and to the wrong feed ing of the children themselves. Often Japanese children lost all their teeth by the time they were fourteen. In other; countries the bad feeding would cause rickets, but in this case the strong sun prevented that,' and the teeth suffered instead. One of the outstanding events of the trip had been the lecture given on the "Teaching of the Appreciation of Art," given at a wonderful place, a museum of art, given to Honolulu by a Mrs. Cooke. Here, set in charmingly unusual .gardens, were large rooms given over to the art of many lands, a few treasures in each room, and an open air theatre outside as well, where the lecture was delivered by a, woman who had interested school children in tho subject. She had come back convinced that wider international interest in every way was needed among women, and that they as kindergarten workers, could help. Miss England said that she thought that the delegates had felt the extreme spiritual significance of the gathering, and the general inspiration of the round table conferences thoy had attended. On her motion a very hearty vote of'thanks :to the delegates for their clear and interesting reports was carried with acclamation.