NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21596, 14 September 1933, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

EMPIRE SETTLEMENT "It is fairly obvious to me," says Commissioner Lamb, of the Salvation Army, in a letter to tho Times, "that you cannot create markets where they already exist, and that unless markets are created where they do not exist, we get no nearer to a solution of the dreadful impasse to which the world has bsen brought. Things may, and doubtless will, at long last improve without the intervention or direction' of any person or group. One result of the recent World Economic Conference may bo tho drawing together in closer bojids of units of tho component parts of tho British Empire. Meanwhile, although for the moment emigration from the British Isles is practically at a standstill (it might in-, deed be said we are having immigration to tho honjeland), much serious thinking is being given to the subject in its various aspects—political, economic, humanitarian —and the result may be the early transplantation of large numbers of the white population of the Empire. Will this movement be left simply to the somewhat haphazard, but very definite, pressure of economic forces, or will it bo intelligently directed? . . . Tho history of the British Empire is one long and continual challenge—a challenge to natural conditions, and a challenge to the dogmas of professional economists, politicians, theologians, and' scientists. . . . To-day the right to work has a new meaning. The right to share in the available work, and the right to compete in the open market with the products of thoir labour, cannot be indefinitely denied to thp millions of our fellow-countrymen now perforce existing in a state of endowed idleness. The people who lack, or lose, the God-like quality of creative ability are doomed; sooner or later they starve and deteriorate, and then they go out." CHILDREN'S SPORTS "Much has lately been written and 6poken about those evils of over-educa-tion which are only now becoming apparent in the rising generation," says a correspondent to the Timos. "But in the realms of sport and games the dangers are equally great, and children nowadays stand in danger of losing all pleasure and interests in later life from the mistaken, or possibly only thoughtless, attitude of their parents toward this question. Those of us who can look back to a happy childhood spent in playing with mud, animals, or each other, can have nothing but pity for the child of to-day with every moment filled with some grown-up activity, and lessons from a professional in game or sport taken more seriously, if that were possible, than ordinary education. Blooded at a year old, competition riding at four, backing horses on the tote at a point-to-point at five, attending a regular race meeting at eight, winning golf prizes and taking lawn tennis lessons at nine, and shooting with a pair of expensive guns and a loader at 16 are all examples which have come to my notice in the last few yeartf. . . . No doubt it is important for the training of champions and record-breakers that they should begin early; they learn a a singleness of aim, a narrowness of outlook which they may not otherwise acquire, even if their ability to reach the top suffers in consequence from over-forcing. But the championship class is necessarily restricted, and for the vast majority this early training leads only to boredom, complete and devastating, and at 21 there is nothing left to be done or hoped or looked forward to. . . . Thank heaven, child nature itself has npt altered very much, and children still enjoy getting dirty and pottering about with mud and animals, if only they are left in peace and their tastes are not ruined by their over-zealous elders." PUBLIC SCHOOLS In an address given to the students of the City of London Vacation Course, Mr. P. H. B. Lyon, headmaster of Rugby, defended the public schools of England. He said he believed that the public schools were on the right track, and would reform rather than destroy.. "We are already approaching a right view of physical education, and beginning to realise the importance and master the technique of education in sex," he said. "More still are we beginning to link school up with the world, and to teach boys, especially toward the end of their time, the duty of service, the necessity and understanding of the need for sympathy. ... . There is a movement going ori inside our public schools which is making them in all respects more fitting td receive our children. That movement is due to the work of the assistant masters,. They and the work they have done, together with certain tendencies in the outside world, are making our public schools better places to-day than they have ever been in the past. To-day I believe it is tho exception for a boy to come across bad influences in his school." With regard to the criticism that too much attention was given to games, Mr. Lyon said that boys to-day definitely disliked what he might describe as "aj tough." That was the boy who was all brawn and muscle and no brain. Though this was tho type of boy who used to be regarded as the school hero in days gono by, to-day boys reserved their real heroworship for character. On fagging and bullying, Mr. Lyon said: "For the ordinary boy the only fagging you get nowadays in school is not undesirablo and is even rather enjoyable. As for bullying, this is comparatively rare today—especially the bullying of a younger boy by an older one. But you do find some of the younger boys bullying thqir contemporaries. Little boys are great bullies, and this is one of the things we try to stamp out."