TOPICS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4313, 23 March 1901, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

•. kQyal, visit;: ; { \ . ) >Wq iarA'. (writes 'Joint, '’Pllmwor; Father/ 'of .WeUiaptih;'”)- I within 1 -a; -few' expecting; to;be' honoured hy i; a.-; visit from the .'soti of his Majesty Edrwsrd the':SeTOnth',7dnd;-giiatids:oiV' of thei Tate tmost- gloTsnus'. Queen Victoria.- MV is, : perhaps, • as 1 groat a compliment *,as', tovpr.was paid.to a British colony;, and may b.o or greater conseqhenoc'.to Now Zealand ::tha\i.;ave'alrc’i at .present aware,of; . This .is a groat public -question;, and,: therefore,; ought to' be settled by, the. voice of:the; public-. . -.Tho- visit-is : , not to the. Premibr'i: nor yet-• to the'j Mayor; ;for lot whichever, or both,-pay j for. it,, theytrill only be-paying, for lit tvith, the : people ! s\; money ‘and’, "therefore,; the, people,should decide what moil should ?bo; spoilt, mud .>what*~amonnt tho Government. add;. Council "should.' pay. ' Already the. Government is: talking of a surplus of five- -hundred, - thousand -pounds, had the -Council talks of borrowing jtvyo hundred and.fifty .thousand,, the interest'of which nifist"be paid by the ratepayers. 'lf the people of. New Zealand' are so prosperous,, surely they ought not to grudge and.grumble about the 'money to give a welcome to the Duke and 'Duchess of Cornwall equal to their stations ‘and to the prosperity of the colony. Such a thing as this may never happen, again. There' is no doubt they will receive l a- welcome' in. Sydney equal to the occasion', and I do : not see why Wellington, the capital of Now Zealand, -should; not do the same with pleasure.. The eyes of •'England l - and the world are looking,'-cud I-should'be sorry to seen distinctions madc ; to ; our disadvantage; The Mayor should bo asked to call'a meeting,* and-should invite-the Premier .and tho people to decide this snatterat once, so* that tve may have time to make proper preparations.

: . A. SATISFACy-OMy REpOr.!. - It is very satisfactory to know that iV c-llumton.-has A ■ pilot, signal and harbour Staff .in which the'travelling public can. put reliance,- >lt is:a cheerfui thiug to. say iunpgard to.a large port like' this that- “ the,- various; duties in, thehaxboitr and at the signal: stations hafeheeh carried out in a careful and satisfactory manner, free from accident or loss of any kind.” Yet that is the statement which Captain Johnson, - the 'harboUt--master, ' is able to state in his annual report to the i-larbour Board. Captarn Johnson, in the course of his interesting summary of the year’s work, goes on to say; —“ Twenty vessels with a not tonnage, of 28,923 tons were piloted into port. Seven vessels with a net tonnage of 15,165 tons were piloted out. wards; 382 vessels with a net tonnage of 920,139, tons wore removed; the total number of vessels handled by the pilots being 409, with a net tonnage of 946,537 tons, of which 290 were steamers with, a net tonnage of 872,419 tons, 119.

sailing vessels with a net tommge of 92,118 tons, being an increase of fiftvseven vessels, with an increase of i03,031 tons on the'previous year. Beacon Hill Signal Station is now equal, if not superior, to. any of.-its kind in .the c-mo. ny. A new look-cut hon.se bus been built and a powerful telescope placed therein, by, which ijpe .jihsn iaro/onabled to distinguish vessels at a long distance, a new flagstaff and all -its: equipments, also 'various other instruments, bringing the station into a perfect un-tc-dalo condition, and enabling the men to carry out their duties 1 in u more’ efficient man. uer. ■ ' '

pupil thaghers: IN SCHOOLS. ■ “The scale ’• regulations' for the iiay r inent of pupil teachers' appear to foster the employmerit of females rather than males in the schools,’’ feays Mr H. Hill, Inspector cf Schools in Hawke’s Bay, in his annual-report‘to’Hlibßoard. “'The fdwness'of male'pupil teachers is striking/ and- yet there is an almudancc el feinalo teachers. ■ My own opbueu, after an experience- with piipii 'wacbn-s extending over thirty years, is. that it would be wail--for education were the so-called pupil teacher -system utterly abelisi.el and a-more rational and efficient scheme adopted.- In no- other profession arcmen who are employed during the day called upon, to -instruct and prepare. for examination thbir-apprentices under compulsory conditions, and were arrangement provided, as there ought to bo, for the training of young people in the art of-, teaching-before being sent into the schools to teach as they liovt arc,

an important ,step.would have been taken in improving the educational condition of the schools. - /I professor of pedagogy rit a itnivcr.sity cdUlcee may bo. fashionable just how,- but sujjh ainan is quite useless for the making of efficient teachers such as are wanted, in- this, country, and until something is- done 'in the way cf training young ‘ teachers without the intermediate pupil teacher course there appears to mo but little hope of seeing a high average standard of officicney reached, in the schools. When one sees a sixth class pupil suddenly transformed into a class-teacher, it' is ■ little'-wonder that defects occur in the preparation of children. • Reasonable iutc-lligonce duly exercised on.matters of every-day life should. suffice io -bow even the rion-teeh-nical mind how little real progress is to he: -expected, in/ the higher .aspects of training when boys and girls whoso own education is far .from complete aro appointed to train other children and supply a,foundation oil which all after conceptions have toady to be. based. The five hours of .weekly instruction that the Board’s regulations require to be given to ; the. pupil, teachers are greatly extended by hoadrteachers in many oases, and I am satisfied that ho.class' of workers in the colony toil harder than do the pupil, i eachers .under the present system of training and instruction.”

NO “OPEN-Doba.” It is well-known that efforts have been made by those high in authority in these colonies tp iuduch tlie 1 American, Government .to adopt .the" “ open-door policy ” in, respect to Australia and New Zealand steamers, 'calling at Honolulu. From a .communication which the Premier has received from the Secretary of the United'"'States' Treasury, it seems there is no chance.of any relief whatever being granted. , The writer sets forth: that tlie desire, of the United States to promote" friendly commercial relations with the British-Australasian Governments has been shown by liberal preparations of Congress' for the ocean mail service, which" has lately boon im. proved for the mutual benefit of the citizens of the United States and Bri-tish-Australasian subjects, bub, in his opinion, it is not advisable ito re-open the question in accordance with the sug. gestion made.