THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13370, 27 December 1906, Page 4

THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

.*» The holiday which has just passed will long be remembered as one of the most heartily and generally kept of the sixty-odd Christmas holidays that have been known in the city and province. The long-sustained and general prosperity has naturally led to an increase in the spending-power of our people, and they have been able to take full advantage of the glorious weather and of the exceptional situation of Auckland. If tradespeople of all kinds have felt the results of good times in an increased holiday trade, which also appears to have surpassed all previous estimates, those who cater to the amusements and diversions of the multitude have equally good cause for mutual congratulations. By rail, road, and water, the Christmas picnic parties have found their way in thousands to the numerous beauty spots which are strewn far and near about Auckland ; and the same can be said of every provincial or colonial town. While the race meetings and other popular gatherings have similarly drawn together their thousands and tens of thousands. It is sometimes said that in the colonies people take too many holidays, but that depends upon the degree of application to work which characterises the periods between the holidays. So long as holidays give men and women a greater zest in life, and renew their energies for the hard work of the world, they can hardly be held in too great esteem ; and this we trust may safely be said of the Christmas holidays of 1906. NOTES AND COMMENTS. „ EDUCATION IN AMERICA. Is the course of a lecture on education in America Mr. Whitelaw Eeid, the American Ambassador in. Loudon, said that, broadly speaking, religious instruction was- notcompulsory in any public schools in the United Slates, and was not permitted in most of them. Religious exercises at the daily opening 01 the school were long encouraged, and were still common, but seemed to be growing less go, especially in the great cities. Where used, they generally included the reading of Scripture without note or comment. The New York State constitution, prohibited aid from public funds to denominational schools, or to .schools where, any denominational tenet oil doctrine 'was taught; and similar prohibitions were' general in other States. Enrolment'in the primary schools in. the different States equalled about 20 per cent, of the population, and the average daily attendance was about 69 per cent, of the enrolment. The animal cost was about£so,ooo,ooo. There was a. general tendency to make attendance compulsory between the ages of six and fourteen. The "home rule'' disposition of democracy left the business management of the schools to the people of the locality, but- the State alone passed judgment on the fitness of the teacher. Americans claimed for their secondary school system that it was the best means yet put into operation for placing within reach of the greatest number of children the opportunity to climb the educational ladder as high as they could ; and that the education so afforded tended to develop, even out of the masses of imported raw material, the kind of citizen who had so far made the fortunes of the country. In 1902 there were in the 6292 public high schools 551,000 pupils, and 105,000 in the private schools. That- meant that about one fin every twenty-three of the youth of the land was pursuing some form of higher'education, while the door was open to as many of the others as showed themselves qualified to enter it. The standard curriculum would include languages, mathematics, English, and science for about half of a fourrears' course, and the balance would be made up of studies chosen by the pupils or their parents. There was an abandonment of nieTe learning by rote, and of old routine, and a- greater tendency to throw the student on his own resources and make him think tor himself. As to the colleges and universities, there could be no doubt that, with reference to the wisest conservation of force, there were too many of them. One might count up to about 415. Of those, 275 were under some sort of sectarian or denominational control, and over forty were State institutions. The most notable recent evolutions in higher education had been the State universities, in which the United States approximated to the ideal of free university education for anybody qualified to enter. Their general characteristics were : Less prominence for the old collegiate " humanities;" greater attention to science, particularly as applied to agriculture and the industrial arts; greater variety and freedom of choice in elective studies ; military training; and the admission of women. Half a dozen of them maintained practically as high standards as the best of the older universities. They drew fresh blood; and their chief strength from the common schools ; they were becoming more and more the colleges of the common people, and their graduates were coining forward as the most prominent and the most- useful of the people's leaders. NEW YORK OP TO-DAY. In Blackwood's Magazine Mr. Charles Whibley has an article on New York, "to a European tho most foreign city on earth." New York is a parvenu, but often a parvenu of taste, though the Riverside Drive palaces are mere " antics of wealth," " vast blocks of vulgarity." But, for the skyscraper the writer has a good word. Itpresents a new view of architecture. " It is original, characteristic, and beautiful." It suits its atmosphere and environment; but it would be intolerable in ou\ grey and murky land. Patriotic Americans wishing to transplant it to England " merely prove that they do not appreciate the logic and beauty of their own architecture." Movement, noisy and incessant, is a characteristic of New York, and the one which seems most to have struck Mr. Whibley. Everyone hurries and scurries to save time, hut when they have saved their time they do not know what to do witAi im. They

merely squander it again " in riotous movement and reckless transportation." They spend that they may saw, and save that they may spend". _ Nowhere will yon find a single man content to be merely alive and squander the leisure that God gave him: — "Young in years, New York possesses the rage and hardness of youth. In brief, it is a braggart city of mediaeval courage and medieval cruelty, combining the fierceness of an Italian republic with a perfect faith in mechanical contrivance and an ardent love of material progress. Tims you carry ' away from New York a memory of a lively oir, gigantic buildings, incessant movement, sporadic elegance, and ingenuous patronage. But when you have separated your impressions the most vivid and constant impression that remains is of a city where the means of life conquer life itself, whose citizens die hourly of the rage to live." ARE WE BETTER THAN OUR FATHERS? In the Fortnightly Review Mr. 0; S. Street writes on the early Victorians and ourselves. He begins by saying there is a disposition to look down with complacent contempt upon the early Victorians as though their age were a common synonym for all that is unenlightened, narrowly conventional, and Philistine. He suggests that this complacency and contempt are illplaced. He speaks of the forties and fifties and early sixties of the last century. The most characteristic not* of that period was confidence and absence of misgiving and dubiety. Nowadays-almost every Conservative, admits reforms are necessary. The Liberals are only confident, about Free Trade. " The old Liberal spirit animating a whole party is dead.*' Reform on individualistic lines has reached its limit. Reform on Socialist lines is abhorrent to many authoritative and eminent Liberals. Liberals no longer applaud people struggling to be free, as did their fathers. Many even favour autocracy and pet the Tsar. The early Victorians looked on Australians and Americans as amusing and inferior people. Now the situations are reversed. Then morality was narrow, conventional ; chastity counted for everything among women. "When women can move about as beings with independent interests and tastes, either in an economically artificial society like the leisured and aristocratic classes, or in a society economically based on the individual, then sooner or later they are estimated, as are men, by their characters as a whole, and not by one phase of their characters." We are, lie grants, broader in our views, religiously, ethically, critically. " JEsthetically we are nicer." These advantages may, however, be rather the result of the energy and vitality of the past generation than to be placed to the credit of the many ordinary intelligences of to-day. The writer welcomes the partial disappearance of the prudery or false refinement- of early Victorian conver sation. But he is not sure that in the deeper things of taste, in. the appreciation of simple and profound facts of beauty, we, are further than our fathers. He questions whether writers of a similar intellectual appeal to that of Carlyle or Browning wotdcl have been as widely and as heartily welcomed to-day. The newspapers and general conversation to-day suggest to the writer that there is strangely little interest at present in any abstract or intellectual subject whatever. Conversation had more meaning once than it has now. "If intelligence be not wanting' to us, certainly zeal and energy are."LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. ■ '...: ♦— 1 — , , When* a person is knocked over by a tramcar, and dragged along for a few feel, the probabilities are that serious injurieswould be sustained, but this was not the experience of a deaf and dumb' barber, named Paterson, on Christmas Day. He was walking across Queen-street, near Victoria-street, just behind an up-going car, and collided with a car which was going down the street. l'aterson was thrown to the ground, and tinder the moving, car. Motorman Murray promptly applied the .emergency brakes and brought the car to a standstill, although it was running at a fair pace, within a few feet. When Paterson was extricated it was found that he had only suffered a slight shaking. The opinion is expressed by persons who witnessed the incident that the motorman's promptitude and presence of mind in stopping the car prevented a more serious accident. A rather remarkable occurrence, which had a pathetic ending, was reported from Otahuhu yesterday. A nine-year-old girl, named Doris Evelyn McC'arten. whose parents reside at Onehunga, was on a visit to relatives at Otahuhu. Her uncle gave her a shilling with which to buy some lollies, and she set out to make the purchase. The next the relatives heard of the child was that she had reached the shop with all her clothes on fire, and was suffering from severe burns. No time was lost in putting out the burning clothes, and removing . them, and also in applying palliatives to the painful injuries received. The parents at Onehunga were communicated with, and subsequently the sufferer was brought into Auckland in a trap, and admitted to the hospital. Last evening she was reported to be in a serious condition, suffering intense agony from the burns all over the back, arms, and other portions of the body, as well as from shock. She died at an early hour this morning. Just how -the child's clothing was set afire is not known. <Sbe was unable to give an intelligible account, but it is surmised that in 'passing a person who was smoking a lighted match fell- on to her clothes, and so set them ablaze. •,

The Auckland Racing Club's Summer Meeting was commenced at Ellerslie yesterday, under delightful weather conditions, and a record attendance witnessed an interesting and enjoyable afternoon's sport. For the leading event of the day, the Auckland Cup, the starters numbered 12, the candidate most fancied by investors being Puritutu. The favourite was with the leading division, in the early stages of the two-mile race, but had to be contentto divide the honours of third place with Akarana, the race going to Master Delaval, who came into prominence rather over half-a-mile from home. Finishing up his task in attractive style, the son of Seaton Delaval beat Grenade, who had been out forcing the pace, by a length and a-half. Glenculloch was a warm favourite for the Great Northern Foal Stakes, and won the two-year-old race very comfortably, while the Railway Handicap went to Miss Winnie, who brought off a mild surprise. The meeting will be continued on Saturday next

A little stir was caused in Victoriastreet at ten o'clock ou Christmas morning, by a burglar alarm on the premises of Messrs. Sargood, Son, and Ewen ringing. Constable Hunter, who was on duty at the time,' watched the premises while the caretaker was being communicated with, but subsequent investigation revealed no trace of it burglary having been attempted. The cause of the alarm going off is a mystery. • It is explained that with a number of similar systems the alarm may bs started by. a. rat or even a mouse,.

The 12-months-old child of Mi*. Hill, of ■ Kin 'sland. who sustained a broken thigh in a. trap accident at Mount Bosk.U on Tuesday afternoon, was removed to the; Auckland Hospital yesterday. The condition of the little, sufferer is as satisfactory as can be. expected in the circumstances. Robert Briddock, who collided with » tramcar while cycling along Khyber Pass on Tuesday afternoon, and received slight concussion of the brain, is reported to have completely regained consciousness. He is now quite out of danger. Motorman Brown's condition shows no improvement, ho being still unconscious. A female lunatic was taken to the hospital yesterday, and she. proved to be a particularly violent case. She has been removed to the asylum. Messrs. P. K. Cheal and C. Clemen's J.P.'s, presided over a short sitting of the Police' Court yesterday. There were ten persons charged with drunkenness. *nd with one exception they bad been arrested on Monday. The other' had been arrested at a-quarter past twelve a.m. on Christmas Day Seven first offenders, mostly middle-aged men, and visitors to the town, were convicted, and ordered to pay 2* fcVl cab costs, the Bench taking into consideration the fact that several of them had been locked up since Monday afternoon. Denis Dee, Edward Burns and Thomas Crighton, second offenders within f-ix months, were similarly dealt- with. Communications liave been received in Wellington from local bodies in the Auckland district, asking that they should be authorised to deal with mining right* for coal under roads, in their districts, and that the receipts from the sale of such right should he treated as county revenue. They have been informed that their requests open up such an important- question that it is deemed necessary to place before Parliament an amendment of section 122 of the Public Works Act. declaring that minim: under a road can only be carried on undei the authority of a mining privilege. Ar amendment would also be inserted in tin Mining Act Amendment Act, 1905, as with out it there would be no authority to enforce' provisions as to inspection, and generally as to the satisfactory working of the mines. All rents and royalties received under mining privileges within the road areas will, under the amendment, become county revenue. While on his round of duties in the College Hill district, on Tuesday night, a constable heard loud groaning coming from a spot at the corner of New-street and College Hill, and on making an investigation found a well-known resident on the ground, in a helpless condition, and suffering intense agony. It. appears that the man has been under treatment for spinal disease for some time past. On Tuesday night he was restless, on account of the pain he was suffering, and went for a walk at about halfpast eleven o'clock. Owing to his weak, condition he was unable to return. The * constable and a couple of friends assisted the sufferer home. Mrs. Ctwynue, who for many years was landlady of the Hamilton Hotel, telegraphs our Hamilton correspondent, died on Christmas night. The deceased had been ailing for some months, so that her death was expected. Her death will cause widespread regret throughout the Waikato, more particularly among those who remember Mrs. Gwynne as the ideal landlady of the Hamilton Hotel. A heap of burning rubbish, located on a section vested in the Grammar School Board, on Mount Roskill Road, was the cause of getting the local fire brigade outlate on Christmas night. The blaae was soon suppressed. Amongst the seasonable greetings received by the New Zealand Hkrald are artistically got-up, cards from the literarystaffs of the Christchurch Press, Weekly Press, and Truth; from the proprietor and staff of the -Marlborough Express, and from the editor and staff of the Northern Advocate; also from Mr. T. Rouayne, on behalf of the head office of the New Zealand Railways, from the officers of the Department of Labour, the head office-staff of the Northern Steamship Company, and Mr. G. L. Petersen, representative for "Wirth's Greatest Show on Earth." i , A '" penny-in-the-slof machine, situated near the Devonport Ferry Tee, Was broken open early yesterday morning, and a sum of money stolen. The thief appears to have been disturbed just as lie had broken the machine, as a number of coins were left. At Invercargill recently a shopkeeper was convictted and fined £o and ordered to pay costs for " failing to close his shop at one o'clock for the remainder of the day.'' It was shown that defendant's son was back at work ruling up defendant* ledger on the half-holiday in question, and while so engaged admitted a customer, to whom lie effected a sale. The door at the time of the customer's admittance wa.« locked, and the magistrate ruled that although it is possible for n shopkeeper's assistants to be employed in the shop after hours, and yet for the shop to he closed, yet if a locked door is unlocked and remains "unlocked whilst a customer is admitted, and a sale effected, the shop is not closed "at the hour of one o'clock in the afternoon for the remainder of the day,'' as required by the Act of 1901. The mere fact that defendant was not aware that his son was on the premises did not relieve defendant from Liability, and although the son.was committing acta not only prohibited by statute, but In defendant, the Litter -was nevertheless liable. This was the first case of the "kind heard in the colony.

When the Corinthic was within a day or two of Capetown, on her last voyage out to New Zealand, a battle royal between sea-monsters was seen. A school of whales were being attacked by thrashers, and the sight of the anguished monsters, tortured by their persistent enemies, throwing their vast bodies out of the water, .and falling again amid a whirl of lashed-up foam, was one not easily forgotten by the passengers Who : lined the bulwarks of the steamer. The spectacle was reminiscent of the story Frank- T. Bullen tells about the set battles that denizens of the deep engage in on occasions— was an insight into the lite of the marine world of which man only catches occasional glimpses. So hot was the fight that the great creatures took no heed of the steamer, which passed with. in fifty yards of the scene-of slaughter Several snapshots were taken of the novel incident.

Two recent arrivals from Home, both of the fair sex, were among the parent* hned at the Wanganui Court last week ?V— v H ,? l<l, for the "Attendance of their children at schol. One of the*, thought it was a pity Wangunui could not afford to keep a school inspector to go round and vi.it the parents of children who were absent from school, and see the cause of the absence, before issuing summonses. "If was done in the Old Country. Jhe other lady considered that the colonial idea of bringing offending pareM, before a Magistrate's . Court a bad system, and considered that they should . bo BUm ' uioued Wove the truant lector M .as a S ,wa S done at Home. . • \ r • .