MINISTER'S SPEECH.

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 6

MINISTER'S SPEECH.

The Minister, who was greeted with applause, said that since his appointment as Minister of Education he had been overwhelmed with messages of good will and offers of co-operation from parents' associations, education boards, school committees, teachers' organisations , <primarjr, secondary, and technical) and university colleges. Throughout, the realm of education there had been a single-minded desire to co-operate with the Minister of Education and the Government so as to give the child the very best oppoi> tunlty educationally.

The ideal he considered education should aim at was well summed up in the following extract from a book on education he had read only that morning: "It is the development of the personality of each individual child, in an atmosphere of comradeship, equality and mutual help, and in an environment which offers abundant opportunities for constructive work and open-air activity." That seemed to him to sum up what a reasonable and welldesigned system of education should aim at. It would be his object to bringthat into being, not in one day nor in" one year, but to work, to that end so that every boy and girl would have the opportunity of developing mentality, physically and morally, into the very best type of man and woman. There were, however, difficulties in the way, and they would have to be dealt with as soon as possible. The fete was organised by the headmaster, Mr. A. Henderson, and the staff of the school, assisted by the ladies' social committee. r»f which Mrs. TJrquhart is chairwoman. Several entertaining items were provided by the children, one of the most interesting being a fancy dress parade in which some of the competitors exhibited considerable skill and originality. The winner of the fancy dress section for infants and standard one was Edward Miller. Shirley Fancourt won the section for pupils in classes from standards two to six. Frist prizes for the most original and the most economical dress were won by Keith Sutton and Betty Coad respectively.

Other items on the programme supplied by the children included songs by the infants, a play scene from "Robin Hood" by standard four, a ribbon dance by standard two, a play scene from "The Merchant of Venice" by boys of standard six, and a folk dance by standard five.