Patriotism in Schools.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 199, 16 August 1921, Page 7

Patriotism in Schools.

NAVY LEAGUE INFLUENCE. STATEMENT BY HON. C. J. PARR. Auckland, Aug. 12. After unfurling a Union Jack presented by the Navy League to the New.market school, the Minister pi Education had some comments to make to the large gathering present on the subject of patriotism in the schools. Mr. Parr said he bad been criticised in certain quarters for not keeping the Navy League out of the schools. There were some foolish people who said it was wrong to encourage ideas about the British Navy in the minds of the children, but be took full responsibility for facilitating the I.eague’s ideas reaching the schools. Many people did not realise what the nation owed to the Navy League. In his judgment it was the influence of the Teague’s propaganda in Great Britain that was largely responsible for the victory in the Great War. The Navy League would have access to the school children of New Zealand, because he believed it possessed the ability to acquaint the young people of the country of the epic of the Navy, and all that the Navy had done for British freedom and justice in the last 400 or 500 years. “I entirely agree with my friends and neighbours who long for the day when there shall be no war,” said Mr. Parr, “and I endorse the idea of a League of Nations.” These things, however, were not yet, and it was incumbent in the meantime to ensure the maintenance of the Empire’s traditions by relying on preparedness against foreign aggression. Though free from German trouble, the world was not free from all trouble. There were indications that the storm centre was shifting from one ocean to another, and there was a. danger of the gravest trouble arising unless the greatest diplomatic care was exercised. “School children now salute tht> flag, once a week all over the country,” concluded the Minister, “and teachers take the opportunity, I hope, of tolling them what it stands for, and the lessons of history it teaches. On the whole the British Empire stands for the finest ideals of justice the world has ever known.” (Applause.)