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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18736, 14 December 1922, Page 6

Possibly the announcement of Professor W. Henderson Pringle’s resignation of the Chair of Economics at Otago University may not occasion any particular surprise, at least among those more or less cognisant of the circumstances which have doubtless led up thereto. Non© the less, the severance of bis connection with the University must occasion considerable regret. For though Professor Pringle’s sojourn in Dunedin has been quite a short one, it was sufficiently long to enable him to prove himself an exceedingly useful servant of the University, and, it may bo added, of the community as well. Well versed in the subjects entrusted to his exposition, a close student of the economic problems of the day, and deeply interested in the political movements of the .post-war period, Professor Pringle .showed him self the possessor of qualifications necessary to elevate the Chair of Economics to a status befitting its importance. He undoubtedly did a great deal to bring the University into fihe life, as it were, of the people, through his stimulating addresses on economic and kindred subjects, as well as through his very earnest and enlightened championship of the League of Nations in our midst. Brief though it has been, Professor Pringle’s occupancy of the Chair of Economics at Otago Uhiverstiy has, in no small degree by virtue of the factors to which we have alluded, left its mark. There can be no doubt whatever that a university as an institution does benefit in the participation, of members of its staff in public movements of an educational character, and through what they are able to accomplish in the dissemination of knowledge beyond the mere walls of the class room concerning questions of far-reaching interest, the political and economic problems of Europe, and such subjects in short a© Professor Pringle dealt with' in some of his addresses. Manifestly the more the public can look to it for light and ■guidance in various directions the closer will the University approach the place which it is desirable it should hold in the public regard.

In Otago, there is happily justification for thinking, there exists a respect for education, and for those who are in a special sense its representatives, which we hope will ever' remain traditional. Time, that hag been called “the grand instructor,” issues decrees to which school teachers, like everybody else, must bow. The closing year is marked by some resignations which put a period to some notable records of service under the Otago Education Board, and in noting such we are mindful of other teachers who during the past twelve months have joined the retired list. The responsibility which the teacher assumes is so high, and the influence which he exercises is so far-reaching, that a fitting opportunity r of recording appreciation of his work in. the community should be ever welcome. The teacher’s work is public service in a very real sense “Absolute devotion to duty and a high sense of efficiency”—these words, embodied in the tribute paid yesterday to the retiring principal of the Dunedin Training College, sum up succinctly, we arc confident, the spirit which animates the teaching profession as a whole. The gift for teaching may not be equally distributed, but training and enthusiasm count for much. The teacher must needs take his work very seriously, for it is more or less continuously under judgment. His success is not written where all may read it, but the record is none the less enduring. Members of the Education Board gave testimony yesterday to the services in the cause of primary education rendered by Mr James Rennie, who is now relinquishing the headmastership of the Albany Street School, and it was observed by one speaker that his influence had spread beyond Dunedin to other districts. Unquestionably Mr Rennie has shown how useful the school teacher’s citizenship may be. Without particularisation, however, the feeling of the community in contemplation of the records of teachers, men and women, who reach the retiring stage, cannot but be expressive of gratitude for faithful and valuable service rendered in the public interest over many years. Loud Ctjbzon appears to have come very well out of the controversy concerning his correspondence with M. Gounaris, the illfated Greek statesman—and that is more than can be said in respect to three at least of his ex-colleagues. The incident is strikingly illustrative ■ of the loose

method of conducting Cabinet business which prevailed during the latter days of the Coalition Government. Some weeks ago Lord Curzou stated, without contradiction, that he, as Foreign Secretary, had not been cognisant of the issue of Mr Lloyd George’s sensational manifesto at the beginning of the trouble with Turkey. Last week he, in his turn, waa charged with having failed to submit to the late Cabinet his correspondence with M. Gounaris in reference to the situation of the Greeks in Anatolia. Lord Bilkerhead declared that he had not seen the documents, adding that “they were not letters that one could receive and forget.” Mr Austen Chamberlain was not so sure of his memory. “Some of us were very surprised,” he said, “to hear that the documents were circulated, though our memories may be faulty.” Mr Lloyd George must also have disclaimed knowledge of the correspondence. On Monday last, however, there was a different story to tell. Proof of the circulation of the correspondence among the members of the late Cabinet had been forthcoming. The eating of humble pie followed. Mr Lloyd George said that he unreservedly accepted the statement. He added that he must -suppose that he received it (the correspondence), but he was ill at the time, and afterwards he was away, which accounted for the fact that the letter had completely passed out of his memory. Lord Birkenhead accepted the statement unreservedly, and expressed regret to those on whom his previous speech might have appeared to reflect. These are significant recantations—especially if we bear in mind the ex-Lord Chancellor’s earlier remark. Mr Chamberlain, having previously admitted the fallibility of his memory, may not have thought an apology necessary. We are reminded of the deliberate assertion of Kinglakej the historian of “The Invasion of the Crimea,” that war was declared against Russia at a Cabinet meeting when half the members were fast asleep.