CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12538, 27 June 1901, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

/ DANISH SCHOOLS.

Probably in <ao other country on earth, not even in New Zealand, do the people start an life, so well

equipped for their -work as in Denmark Keen-witted amd physically robust,' townsfolk and! couaatoyfolk are right at the head) of Continental peoples for energy and intelligence. The nation is tibe richest per head in the world, excepting only the British. The School Director of Copenhagen (says the " Pilot") was asked one day what percentage of the children, for -whose training he is responsible, succeed in evading the compulsory education Jaw. His reply was a look of blank amazement. Evidently it had' never occurred to !ham that any of his charges could be so demoralised as even to wish to evade ibbe law. With ana soEtary exception, every efcild 'in the city who was physically and mentally in a state to be taught was being taught, he declared. The single exception was the diongletier of a (strolling player. For the sake of comparison, it may be eaid that in Ifomdion lalone no fewer than, one hun* left. «n^re]yj

without schooling. ■ For generations education has been compulsory in Denmark. Every child l , unless it belongs to the " invalid" or the "private* education" class, must go to school -when it is seveo years old, and it may, if its parents choose, go wJbfen it is sax; and! there it must remain until ■within- one* term of its fifteenth birth- j day. The only flaw- in the system. : from our point of view is. the concession it makes to class prejudices, and, considering the results, this cannot !be regarded 1 as serious. la almost every quarter in Copenhagen there are two Board schools, organised and managed 'by the city authorities on precisely the same lines. The only difference between the two is that the one is a Betalingsskole and the other a Friskole; the children who go to the one pay a krone (Is a month fox the edu-. cation they receive, /whereas those who go to the other pay nothing at all, The system inevitably causes the free schools to be regarded with some disfavour, and even poor parents scrap© and save in order "to keep their boys and girls "select."- Out of 37,482 children whose names were-on the Copenhagen school lists in 1899, the BetaMngsskolea were responsible far 12,586.

QTTEENSIAND NATIVES.

. The Queensland aborigines i are fast diminishing in numbers, and contact with civilisation has brought

them neither happiness nor riches. There is a camp of blacks on Stradbrooke Island, near Brisbane, and the Brisbane " Courier" gives an interesting account of a visit paid to it by Mr Thomas Petris,, a staunch friend of all the blacks, and formerly a Worker among them. On the whole he found the natives contented and happy,' but they axe dying out rapidly, and all. the young people are half-castes. !f , They speak their own language,-but theyrspeak English also. There is a special settlement on Fraser'a Island,- and on© of the Stradbrooke blacks, who had obtained permission to go and see l his friends there, said that the island was a good place, but the blackfeiowis were fretting at being kept there, away from their own. country. . It seems that the blacks are taken to Eraser's Island quite irrespective of the districts they belong to, or the different tribes, and they.do not like this. In the former settlement at Mr Petrie's management, uhe natives had to work in. exchange for rations, and they caught and! cured fish, and got dugong, shark and sting-ray oils, which were sold in exchange for rations, and these were given in charge of an old dole out. Eventually the camp was broken up, and the fishing-boats the Government had provided for the station, were given to the blacks. Most of the old tribal customs are disappearing in Queensland, or at least in those parts of the State where the ■ 'blacks come into contact with white men. ! Thus, Mr Petri© says, the corrobborees ■ given, by the natives for the entertainment of visitors are not the real ceremonies of the old times. The young men have, never seen the genuine corrobboree, and consequently give ait best only a poor imitation; but Mr Petrie was told that three or four of the older Hacks, if requested' to do so, would b& able to organise a) ceremony on the old lines. Mr Petrie's knowledge sihould be of the greatest assistance j;o the Government i» dealing with the remnant of the aboriginal population, for the blacks talk to him with the greatest freedom, and allow him to go among them ' without let or hindrance. In the presence ! of ordinary official visitors they are said' to be rather sulky.

A' SOXiTITKR AND A MAN. '

la a recent number of "Soiibner'fi," there is ax. exoeEftn* pen portrait of Da Wet by an American War Co-respondent who has Been

a good deal of service with that famous guerilla chief. It as very interesting reading, but the incident which will please , Britona most, though they may sorrow at.| the death of the officer who was the chief actor, is a little tale of iSannas Post. When ' De Wet caught the waggon train, and a I troop of (mounted! infantry had been sene ! after it,' this is what happened, according to the American' scribe. The Hjeutenant; who commanded dt was a brave man, but sadly lacking in caution. He galloped hia troop down* to the spruit, and halted on. theedge of .the donga. Then. Do Wet stood up and said quietly j " Come in." The expression, on the. lieofceoant's face shorwed that he knew that he was. trapped. Ho rode forward to within speaking distance, whille the troop halted. "You must surrender, sir," said De Wet, "Your position is hopeless." Glancing rapidly around him, the lieutenant bowed his head and rode slowly back to this' troop. Doubtless in that brief time he bade fanewell to life. As he went, De Wet deliberately covered him with Qua rifle and waited. The lieutenant stopped dn. front .of his men, ■who were very much inonplussed. "Fall back!" he commanded, in a loud i: clear.! tone. The words were scarcely out of his mouth when De Wet shot Mm dead. This was the signai for the concealed Boers to pour a volley into tho troop that emptied ■ three-fourths of its saddles. The survivors galloped madly away to give the alarm in the camp. The American correspondent, unfortunately, does not give the name of the lion-hearted young officer who thus gave his life lor his troop. It was a deed worthy of the noblest traditions of th-a British army. Episodes of the kind are not infrequent ia. wars ins which Britons, are engaged, and as often as not there is no correspondent to record even the bare facts. The Victoria Crossi has been awarded for less remarkable examples of conspicuous bravery on the field of battle, and the name of the gallant officer should bo enrolled on the scroll of fame.