PRIZE WINNING ESSAYS

Grey River Argus, 12 May 1943, Page 3

PRIZE WINNING ESSAYS

First Prize £l/10/

May Day is held on the Ist. of May of every year, ft was instituted by the Romans who observed it as a Spring festival. Dancing, singing and games were indulged in. Much the same thing took place in all the old lands. In England they instituted the maypole dance and May Day was a general holiday. May Day was chosen by the Socialist and Labour organisations as a day when all the workers of the world would pause from work and proclaim international working-class solidarity. .. .

In Soviet Russia, May Day has a specal significance, there it is regarded as a day when the Soviet people link with the workers of all other nations.

In Greymouth, some years ago, a processibn was held every May Day, terminating at the band rotunda, where the community congregated to hear speeches by the Hon. Mr J. O’Brien and officials of the Miners’ Union. Afterwards followed sports and games. Unfortunately during the last few years, May Day has almost died out. However,' an effort is being made to revive this ceremony, and in my opinion it is a splendid idea as I think if all the people of the world were linked more closely together there would be a better understanding, brotherly love and consequently people would live in peace and prosperity. Let us remember also our forefathers who suffered so that we might enjoy education, good food and reasonable working conditions. LEWIS PAUL, Age 11. Blaketown School.

Second Prize £1

Holidays have been customai ever since the time of the Romans. There are many holidays which are celebrated, for instance, Bank Holiday, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday and many others. April Fool s Day is not recognised as a holiday, but a day of fun and happiness. May Day is celebrated throughout the world. The Romans used to hold a festival in honour of Flora, the Goddess of Flowers. Even with the coming of Christianity, people still kept this day. Ihe observance of May Day was never recognised by the Church yet peop e cling to it and cling to it this yeiy day. , All through the middle ages and later, May Day was a public holiday in England and was observed with all sorts of frolicking.

At dawn, everyone, old and young, went to the woods and fields to gather flowers and blossoming boughs .and brought them into the towns and villages. A maypole, which originally represented a growing tree was set up, and around it the prettiest maidens danced, winding its gay ribbons in and out in honour of the May Queen, who was chosen from among their number every year. Then there w eie all kinds of sports on the village green, and plenty of other amusements. So much for the jolly sight of May Day. The real, significance of May Day is a tragic story. Away in the early eighties, men in America, who endeavoured to form an industrial union, were put to death for endeavouring to promote unionism,—unity among the workers of America. A similar position occurred in England, where the “Martyrs” of Tollpuddle were persecuted and depot ted to Van Diemen’s Land for furthering the cause of industrial unity, and were kept in chains for a number of

years. . . u t , In Russia, the world’s richest and vastest country, workers were treated on similar lines. May Day in Russia *is a holiday in normal times of great national importance. Leaders of the Russian working class, like the late M. Lenin and the present Joseph Stalin have done much to improve working conditions in Russia, and to make the celebration of May Day possible. In the British Commonwealth of Nations, May Day has not reached the importance that it has in America and Russia. In New Zealand May Day is celebrated among the coalminers and likewise in-Australia. A similar dav to Max’ Dav in New Zealand is Labour Day, and in Australia the Eight-Hour Day. It is not so. many years ago in these countries that the eight hour day was instituted after years of bitter struggling and fighting were encountered. This meant the imprisonment of many prominent labour advocates of both these countries. ' " We have in New Zealand to-day,

Members of Parliament who have suffered for upholding the principles of May Day, as laid down by the workers of America, Russia and England manj' years ago.

The celebration of May Day in these troublesome times is of very great importance to the workers in order to defeat the forces of Fascism and Hitlerism. There is now greater need than ever for unity among the workers. When the present conflict is concluded it is hoped that May Day yill be a national day of celebration and honour to those who suffered in the cause of industrial unity throughout the democratic world. € Workers of the world unite and let the rising generation know that the struggle has not been in vain 1

NOELENE RODDEN, 11 yrs. 6 mths. Waiuta School

Third Prize 10/-

May Day is on the first day of May. This month is named aftei’ Maia, The Mother of Mercury to whom sacrifices were made. May Day is celebrated in the rural districts of England by a big procession and a fair on theA village green. On the green a great deal of dancing goes on for both young and old. The people drive a big pole into the ground, which is known .as the May Pole. From this pole hang numerous coloured ribbons. Each dancer takes a ribbon and dances to the tune of the May Pole dance. Nowadays May Day is not celebrated with such festivity as in the last century, although it is the day on which all workers who are in trade unions carry out demonstrations. The reasons for the workers having these demonstrations is to celebrate the coming into force of the eight-hour day and 40-hour week. International demonstrations of workmen in favour of a compulsoiy eight hours’ working took place in Europe and America on May Ist., 1890 and since then the first of May has come to be generally recognised as a workers’ day on which labour demonstrations are held.

May Day has been declared a national holiday in most democratic countries of the world. In Russia particularly, they have wonderful processions in every city and village and the day is spent in games, etc. The trade unions throughout New Zealand are to have some similar celebrations this May Day and we hope Greymouth will have a day we can remember for years. GLADYS RAWCLIFFE, Cobden School.

Consolation Prizes The following children will receive consolation prizes. We also offer a little criticism of their effort. BLAKETOWN SCHOOL: Joan Livingston: Beautifully worded, but you touched the subject matter too lightly. Elaine Dixon: Ideas right, but appeared to be hurriedly written. Sacred Heart School, Reefton. Marie Fraser: Very good—if you had not neglected the significance of modern May Day. Runanga School: M. Hadcroft: Well put together. Could have been longer and more complete. J. Anderson: Your essay contained excellent material. You seemed a little careless in setting it out. It only just missed. Sylvia Ward: Well written, and contents good; but youi points did not follow in the right order. You will do better next time. Jack Ewen: You went to a lot of trouble to get your material. Excellent for your age. You will be hard to beat next year. Jack Duggan: Very good, Jack. You also will be hard to beat next year. Grey Main School: D. West: Well written and well balanced. You should have used your own wording throughout instead of ours at the end. W. Weaver: Not written in the language of an 11-year old child. This spoilt it. Taylorville School: Lorna Williams: An excellent description of the old-time May Day. Learn a little more about the modern May Day. A very good effort for your age. Eleanor Bell: Very good for your age. You have earned vour prize. Rena Bell: A very intelligent effort, but you got things a bit mixed at the ' end. The “Congress was the workers’ organisation, not the employers’, so it could not “give the men more pay.” Your style is good. Jean Scott: You opened excellently. Then you began to use, word for word, chunks of our May Day article. It is a pity you did not continue as you started. Cobden State School: N. Pascoe: Your essay is concerned almost entirely with old May Day, which makes it unbalanced. Christine Dickson: If it was an essay contest on old May Daj' you could not be faulted. But you only mention modern May Day in the last sentence. Nola Patterson: Very good indeed. But your knowledge of modern May Day is very scanty. Daphne Goodall: You have outstanding literary ability. A little more on modern May Day would have run you into -the first three.