THE W.E.A.

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1940, Page 4

THE W.E.A.

WELLINGTON DISTRICT

COUNCIL

I' The annual meeting of the Wellington .< District Council of ' the W.E.A. was j held recently. The following officers | were elected: —President, Mr. M. Riske, |M.A.. Dip.Ed.; vice-president, Mr. A. iT. Macalpin: secretary, Mr; A. C. Barrington; executive. Mrs. H. G. Richardson. Messrs. M. Riske, A. T. Macalpin, J. Gibson, and W.L. Clamp; representatives to District Advisory Committee on Adult Education, Messrs, Macalpin, Gibson, and Barrington; representative on W.E.A. Dominion Council, Mr. Riske. ' .'. : l.; A warm tribute was paid to the work of Mr. F. p.' Corn well for the W.E.A. since-its inception in 1915 and he was re-elected as a co-opted member of the District Council. A very successful summer school was held during the Christmas holidays at the Feilding Agricultural High School, about 100 men and women attending for 'a week's study and recreation. Plans for the 1940 session of classes in Wellington were reported to be well advanced. Professor Lipson has agreed to give a course of twenty lectures on political science. .Other lecturers will !be Dr. W. B. Sutch (economics). Miss T. B. Maurais (current history), Professor Gordon (literature), Mr. L. S. Hearnshaw (psychology), Mr. Ralph Hogg ( drama), Dr. A. C. Keys (music), and Mr. Edward Simpson' (art). The session will open with two short courses of four lectures each by Professor G. W. ,yon Zedlitz ("The Back;ground' of International Relations") and Mr. D. Q. W. Hall ("The Cultural Background of New Zealand"). Lower Hutt is to have a class on America and the Pacific, tutored by Dr. Martyn Findlay. .'. In the suburbs and'country districts W.E.A. study groups are astir and much activity is predicted. The appointment of Mr. S. R. Morrison as tutor-organiser for the Taranaki area will relieve the pressure on Messrs. A. S. Hely and A. M. Richards, the other tutor-organisers for the W.E.A. in the Victoria College district, which covers half the North Island and the Nelson-Marlborough district. W.E.A. study and discussion groups are now a well-recognised feature of most rural areas, playing an important part in centring attention on cultural and socially significant affairs. The written lecture courses designed for these groups are also popular in Public Works and Forestry camps, as well as in suburbs and provincial towns. The voluntary work of leaders and secretaries of the groups is a valuable social service. Realising that adult education is' more than ever important in times of international- upheaval, the W.E.A. is planning to maintain all activities and extend them wherever possible. Many people are beginning for the first time to feel the urgent need for a wider knowledge and better equipment for the understanding Of individual and world. problems.