PART-TIME SCHOOL STARTED BY COMPANY.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 2858, 1 February 1916, Page 2

PART-TIME SCHOOL STARTED BY COMPANY.

In tho oilices of a Chicago company whoro 111010 than a hundred buys arc employed, a very interesting educational experiment is being conducted. Three days each week between noon and 2 o'clock every boy attends school. This represents an instance of a large business organisation attempting to overcome the detrimental effecf.s of blind-alley jobs and to enable half-schooled youngsters to improve their status while employed. The man responsible for the execution ol the plan asserts that the company has always found tho disposition of okl office boys a difiicnlt problem. l!<i the majority of instances they aro entirely unfitted to bold clerical or other positions of responsibility when the times comes that they are too old to serve longer as office attendants. By giving them tho advantages of n part-time school it is hoped that they will be ablo k> develop .sufficiently to hold better places with tho company instead of eventually being discharged. When the plan was suggested to the boys they all gave it hearty support and enrolled. *

A London message reports the death of Sir Clement Markhajn, a veteran Arctic explorer, us the result of shock from burns sustained from a tire at his residence. A shipment of ifiO Mexican green parrots reached Wellington by the mail steamer Maitai from San Francisco. The birds arc very young, and are valued at £0 each. An exciting inuideiit, which migbi. have bad more serious results, occurred at Gisboriio the other morning (says the Times), when a littlo girl got in the way of mob of cattle wilncli wem being driven dowm the road. The d+'over, noticing tho girl's precarious position, .shouted to Constable Henderson, wibtrwas near by to take hor out of tho way. Constable Henderson, by running quickly, caught up the girl just in front, of tlho cattle, and dodged round tho iron railing of the bridge. One of the, beasts, half-mad-dened by a wound in the leg, took exception to ifhe girl's red bat, and chaged at the -ra.il with sucli force «is to bend it. Despite the. .efforts of the .stockma-n, the beast niado two move oha-rges befo.ro bring driven away. Last season a considerable quantity of Ne t w Zealand Imttcr was imported into Tasn.aiiia (.says the Hobart Mercury), and in view of tlbis, ;md tbe prohibition by tbe (Jonunouwealtb GoVcrninciiit of tbo export of Australian butter to England, it is interesting to note tbo contents of a letter received by a well-known firm of Hobart mercliamts from dairy i>roduco nioicliants in Wellington, with whom they do business. In this comiiHinication it l.s .stated that tbo New Zealand output this season is fully 'JO per cent, greater than last year. Tbe export "prohibition now tin force in Australia is described as " wrta.,inj,v wry np.vcJ," and fcbo writer adds: "Till- Labour Government in' Australia cerlaiiily nltonrpfs to look alter (,]io working classes, but it is makiii gibe fatal mistake of leaving out of its calculations altogether tho incrcba-iiits. We were glad in the present crisis." Two years ago a, pair of little yrey owls took up then- abode in tho old miar-y (whites tbo Wendoii domb of the Mataura Ensign). They seem to iliave thrived and multiplied", as a dozen may now bo seen ou a tine evening. Tho quarry used to k> a great breeding-place for starlings, but tho writer motices tba.t they now give it a \\k\e berth. Tjieee owls are plubably _desoond«aiit« of a. niimbpr thatworo'Jiberated iv dilfcrcnt pa-rl.s of the Dominion it (aw years ago. and they must be rapidly mcireasiiig. A trappor informed the writer tha.t they wero fairly uumea-ons an the Pyramid Hill, whero they livo in ra.bbit burrows in inaccessible places, amd Jic bad .not- ;- ced tiliom engaged -in catching lizards and beetles .amongst, the rocks in tlu> daytime. Unljko Mieir cou.sinx, the inoreporks, tbo owls do not shun .the daylight. Uut may often be seen sitting a.t the entrance to their burrows enjoying t.lie sun.

I hold no brief for the post office (says a writer in tbo Dnnotlin Star). I hato nq muniier oi ; f'toiibt that somewhere there liaa been sad bungling, mainly from want of v syslem of keeping a record of where men are. Those who dispose of the men aro not paid to inform the coulounded post ollice about changi's. Let tho oliico iind out for itself. That is tbo liritish system,' r 4'l ( o general intelligence of lh<. mibtarv imiv l»----illustrated by a story from Samoa. A friend of mino went down there soon alter the capture of t-lio island, and several letters for him went down in the same ship with him. He arrived 011 Sunday and got the last of his letters ou the following Friday. This is how the thing was done: An officer ■said to Sergeant Cypher, "Take a squad of men and run'the post office." Of course, ifc did not mailer ".wiint nien. After a trine a prominent postal official happened to call at the island, and the commander actually asked him if anything could be done to improve am? expedite matters. The official said something could be done at once if bo had authority in the nial-

H'i\ Jtlo «vau' asked to act. and be sjjnnly tnrjiod out the .sergeant ani Jiis .squad', iuid called for men who bad P"ot ofHce experioure'. Tl|i.-n'' were plenty i;f flici)/ in ihc force, and in a few hours all was going sruootlilj. >J<i grr-at sl-roko of genius, either, was il , J