NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 148, 20 December 1930, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand's Air Force. In a statement issued from the office of the Minister of Defence (the Hon. J. G. Cobbc) yesterday it was stated that it was not intended to cancel rcfroshor courses for the New Zealand Air Force, but merely to postpone them for a short period. The Government, it was stated, had no intention of departing from its policy of according every encouragement to the Air Force of the •Dominion. A Canadian Hailstorm. "My boys have1 had very bad luck this year," writes a Canadian father to a Now Zealander (states the Auckland "Star").. "They had a splendid crop just near ripening, when along came a hailstorm (stones larger than pigeon's eggs) and in ten minutes destroyed everything. .Instead of getting about £800 each for-their year's work, they have made £30. A hailstorm is really a fearsome thing over here. I have seen the hood of a mo-tor-car perforated by huge stones. I don't suppose you will believe- me when I say that they wore as big as hen's eggs; but they were, and they made very short work of that hood." Trout Fishing Season. Anglers have this season been fishing in all the lakes and rivers, and some good catches of well-conditioned iish have been made. Lakes Taupo, Eotorua, Rotoiti, "Waikare-iti, Rerewhakaitu, Waikaremoana, and the different rivers connected with the lakes have all provided good sport for fishermen of Now Zealand and those from overseas. Tho Conservator of Fish and Game at Rotorua mentions in his latest reports to the Minister ,of Internal Affairs (Hon. P. A. de la Pcrrelle) that a party with three rods at Lako Rorcwhakaitu landed eighty fish of an average weight of 4^lb, tho heaviest being ten pounds. Another party of two took forty fish on the spoon at "Tho Hook," near Tokaanu, all in good condition, averaging six pounds, the largest specimen, weighing 9}lb. The Waikato River below the Huka Falls, and the Tongariro River, are both providing excellent sport from the fly. Trolling on Lake Taupo has kept the launches busy, nrnl largo catclies have boon reported. Altogether the season opened well, and shows signs of maintaining the standard set until it closes.

New Zealand Abroad. Tho fact that while ho was attending the Lambeth Conference and touring Britain he had seen only two references to New Zealand in tho English newspapers was mentioned by Archbishop Averill, at the annual speech-day at tho Diocesan High School for Girls at Auckland (states the "New Zealand Herald.") The Archbishop said one item referred to the "snow-storm" in Auckland and the other to tho resolution of indignation passed by the prisoners at the Mount Eden Gaol in connection with the theft of communion vessels from a Dunedin church. The speaker said the attitude of tho prisoners showed what education was accomplishing in the Dominion. Parable of the Lion. "When entertained at luncheon in Suva, Fiji, ou his way back to England, Sir Otto Niemeyer declined to say anything about tho finances or economic position of Australia. He would, he said, content himself by telling a story which they could regard as -a parable. He told of a sportsman on a lion-shoot-ing expedition in Africa, who was accompanied by his wife and her mother. One day, when in his tent, he heard his wife call out: "Come quickly, come quickly, a lion is after "mother." Snatching his gun he dashed out—to see a tableau. There was the lion glaring at his mother-in-law, while his mother-in-law glared back at the lion. He was deeply touched. "No, no," he cried, "the lion has got himself into this mess and he must get himself out of it." The story was received with loud laughter, and there was renewed laughter when Sir Otto quietly added: "That story was told to me by a professor of political economy." "Discovered Aptitudes" as a Joke. Addressing Technical School pupils and parents at Masterton on Wednesday, the Mayor, Mr. T. Jordan, tilted merrily at tho discovery of aptitudes about which so much was heard in current educational discussion. It had been said, Mr. Jordan observed, that education should proceed along the lines of discovered aptitudes. He would bo glad if someone would toll him what that meant. He believed that tho statement originated with a unique Irishman named Bernard Shaw, and he had often wondered whether Bernard Shaw made it with his tongue in his cheek. It sounded very well in theory to talk about proceeding along the lines of discovered aptitudes, but when did a teacher know when he had discovered them? When he was about ten, Mr. Jordan added, ho was convinced that the best job in the world was that of a baker —"a dough-banger as you boys would call it," he interpolated. Was that his discovered aptitude? When ho was about sixteen, he was put into an undergraduate's gown and told he was a teacher. It was an old headmaster that did it. "Was that a discovered aptitude? When ho was about twenty years old, a professor said to him: "Jordan, you ought to be a history professor." He said: "Why, Sir?" The professor replied, "Because you have such a wonderful memory." Was that a discovered aptitude? "Five or six years later," Mr. Jordan continued, "I got through my law exams —and now some folks tell me I ought to be a politician." (Laughter and applause.) Speaking seriously, Mr. Jordan went on to observe, he had had some experience of boys, not of girls. He had taught hundreds of them, and he said that there were very few cases in which a boy of 17 or 18 or 19 knew what ho was going to do in after life. The president of New College, Oxford, had said that of all the undergraduates who came to them. GO per cent, did not know what they were going to do in later life. What mattered most was the development of character and the fostering of qualities that would make boys good citizens.