LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16157, 19 February 1916, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

RAILWAYMEN'S DEMANDS. Sir.—ln the Herald of February 18 : appeared a letter criticising railwavmen, from a correspondent who signed himself Railway Servant."' The tone and wording of his epistle leaves the impression • that he does not belong to the second divi- ' ' siqn, the class he is attacking. He wisely . retrains from discussing the justice of the ' men's demands, says the agitation is being ; engineered from outside by syndicalistic ' agitators, and pertinently asks what sort ' of righting men are these when compared '. with our gallant men at the front. Wo will leave " Railway Servant" to pub the last, question to himself. The majority of railwaymen have answered it honourably, and to the satisfaction of the Government. Until "Railway Servant" tells us his name and standing in the service we will - never know what importance to attach to I ' his opinion. But if he insists that the '' , service is contented, he is in error. For I ' confirmation of my opinion I would re- I ] spectfully refer readers of the Herald to ! ] any guard or porter in Auckland. The ! < oldest, guard or youngest porter will state l , that the service is seething with discon- , ] tent. It may not be generally known, j ' hut railway porters do not receive 9a per day after superannuation is deducted. They would, I am sure, feel grateful to " Railway Servant" if he would tell them how to keep a wife and feel happy on this : miserable wage. Despite " Railway Ser- : . yant's" assertion to the contrary", this : justifiable demand for more pay is being , directed and expounded by the president , of the Enginedrivers' Association and lead- I . ing officials of the Amalgamated Society ! ' of Railway Servants. They appeared be- I fore the Minister for Railways in person, j and only this week the enginemen re- I ceived a sympathetic hearing from the \ Hon. Mr. Russell. These facts " Rail- '' way Servant" should know and appreciate i ' if he has' had 13 years' service in the | traffic branch, where the discontent is. j 1 Geo. Colthttrst, ex-Railway Guard. I ! Rendell Place, Eden Terrace, February i 18, 1916. •' KINDERGARTEN. } < Sir,—At the present time there is naiur- ' ; ally a prejudice .against things German, ■ ] and the name " Kindergarten has fallen i beneath the ban of many people. I be- < lieve Sydney has decided to do away with i i the word altogether. It is not an easy j ' matter to replace tho name which has i i been in use all over the world for nearly j I a century, and surely if we were con- ! jsistent in condemning the name we should I | also do away with the whole teaching of ! Froebel, the founder of the Kindergarten [system, which has benefited so many thou- ! sands of little children. Such a step is ' absolutely impossible. Even if we follow < tho Montessori method we are acting unjustly, for many of her principles Madam ; Montessori borrowed from Foebel, and : . suited them to her own needs in the training of the mentally deficient children. Her | system alone is altogether inadequate for a ; ! normal child. Could we suggest a better ' ' name than Kindergarten? " Child's gar- ; den " does not give the true meaning of . the word, for tho founder of the system i meant that the children were the flowers : : and his training-ground was "a garden ' where a child's powers mav develop naturlallv as a plant and tended bv skilled (gardeners." Froebel was the "first to' .attempt to use The play interests of little children for character training. Although ! i?. "!i S ' , Germany, he gained many i of his ideas from Switzerland, and all his 'success in his great work wag in that j j country. When an old man he wished the' ■ kindergarten system to be universally | known and adopted, but the Prussian | Government did not approve. Another case of Prussiamsm. The introduction of the kindergarten system was absolutely! forbidden in Prussia, and. to make the < edict stronger, Froebel was unjustly ac- I cased of being an atheist and a socialist-: both terms of utter reproach in those' days The double grief of the refusal and un,ust censure preyed on Froebel'. mind ■ and hastened his death, which occurred in ; the following year. The kindergarten ; system flourished first in Switzerland then !' in France and England, and final y in i America. It has been established for 70, years, and the name has surely become universal and cosmopolitan. Froebel by his life and works showed himself to he a man of high character, and possessed of lofty ideals. If there had been more men Of his type at the head of affairs hi Qer- I many, there would have been no great I war in Europe to-day. Does it not seem : tnat bv arbitrarily changing a name so one accepted we are offering less despite I to he Prussians who repudiated him than to the memory of this beloved teacher who ! has; not only benefited generations of little ! children but has influenced the whole i system of modern education? I Alice Hopkin-son-, | Kindergartener and Trainer, Auckland ! I j Kindergarten Association.