SOUTH OTAGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20174, 11 August 1927, Page 6

SOUTH OTAGO.

BALCLUTHA DISTRICT NEWS

(From Our Own Correspondent-) BALCLUTHA, August 11. RETAILERS’ ASSOCIATION. The annual meeting of the Balclutha Retailers and Employers’ Association was hold last night, when there was a emu I attendance. Mr S. V. White, who presided, reported on behalf of the committee set up to canvass for new members that they had met with a very generous response, and that ia was plain that the shopkeepers of tho town did nor. want the association to fall through. Thirteen or 14 now members had been gained as the result of the canvass, and there could be no doubt that the association would go ahead and bo stronger than evet it was. Messrs J. H. Guest, John Gold, and A, L Shephard spoke optimistically regarding the prospects ol the association. Tho election of office-bearers foi the ensuing year resulted :—President, Mr S. V. White; vice-president, Mr C. Stores; secretary and treasurer, Mr -J. H. Guest. Mr C. G. Clark did not seek re-election for the last-named position. It was decided to adjourn the meeting for a week, when it was hoped there would be a fuller attendance. The election of an executive committee and the allocation of the donations to Ine- various local societies was deferred to the adjourned meeting.

DENTAL CLINIC COMMITTEE. .•V meeting of the South Otago Denial Clinic Committee which was ii eld last night was attended hy Messrs J. 1. Waiter (in the chair), T. T. Kendall, E. Gregory, ,7. J,. Gorinach, G. Vv . Mood, and 1. D. Pear-on. , Mr 'Walter was elected permanent chatrnmn ami 0,1 (tow secretary and treasurer. Mr T. A. Ifunfor, director of dental hygiene, Wellington, regarding the establishment of a suh-hase at Kaitangata, wrote that he did not favour the idea, owing (o the difficulty of transporting the equipment from Balclutha, but ho could see no reason why, with the bus service between Kailangata and Balclutha the Kaifangata children could not be taken to the centra! clinic. U would be September, however, before the nurse could commence the treatment of Kaitantrata children. lie did not tilin': it was possible to include Clinton in the rm-.-e’s ilenid, as_ with Kaiian:ra 1 a. Stirling, and smaller schools, and the inerea-e from time to time of new pri liters, the nurse would be fully occupied. h-Gn the T'uO'ioii of fit, ops Wood and Gorma-!- it wa. dei iile.l that the i.ur.-r he im t 1 m ted -o visit Cbutou. mbdl nr.-H tiuit f ho regret ary wn'e to the director o! denta.! hygiene.

Wellington, requesting that the children of Standard I receive attention from the nurse (at present only the infants receive dental treatment). Tho motion was seconded by Mr Gonnack and carried. Tho Clinton Committee forwarded a cheque for £2. —Received. Accounts owing by the committee were enumerated, and it was decided to make payment in part in the meantime. The Chairman pointed out that some method would need to be adqpted to “raise tho wind” financially. Mr Wood moved that a concert be organised for the purpose of raising funds.— There was no seconder. Mr Pearson then moved that tho committee combine with the Plunkot Society and the Rest House Committee in a joint effort to raise funds later on, on the understanding that each of the societies named take a third share of the proceeds.—Tho motion was seconded by Mr Gormack and carried unanimously. That concluded the business.

CLUTHA HIGH SCHOOL BOARD.

The monthly meeting of tho Clutha High School Board was held last night, when there were present: Messrs J. D. Landels (chairman), William Roy, A. E. Russell, Parker M’Kinlay, J. W. Fenton, D. Marshall A. S. Malcolm, and Mrs D. Dallas. A letter was received from tho secretary of the Clutha and Matau A. and P. Society forwarding a resolution passed at a general meeting of the society to the effect that agricultural science bo one of the main subjects in tho syllabus at the High School. Rather an animated debate ensued, from which it was plain that tho majority wore not in favour of granting tho request. The Principal (Mr J. Reid) when asked for his opinion, stated that he did not think such a course would do much good, as it would bo purely theoretical and lacking in practice. Mr Malcolm moved that it be a recommendation to tho principal to include agricultural science m the curriculum.—Mr Russell seconded the motion. Mr Fenton moved as an amendment that, as no provision had been made in the school for teaching this science, it be excluded from the curriculum. —Mr Marshall seconded tho amendment. Mrs Dallas said there had been no demand for a course in argiculture from tho pupils of the school, or from those connected with them.—Tho Chairman said that tho percentage of pupils attending tho High School who were tho children of farmers was very small indeed —Mr Malcolm said •ho was strongly in favour of tho proposal, but the board knew his views on tho subject, and ho was not going to say any more. On a votp tho amendment was carried by live votes to three. 'Mr Malcolm reported, on behalf of tho Visiting Committee, that ho had been favourably impressed with tho improved appearance of the school and tho fine typo of pupil attending it. It was decided to approach the Kaitangata Coal Company and ask if they would convey pupils free on the railway to Stirling to enable thorn to attend sports at Balclntha on Saturdays. The Chairman suggested that a coating of rotten rock bo put on tho grounds now being formed by tho Public Works Department before the gravel was put on — The matter was left to the chairman, with power to spend up to £2O. The Chairman suggested that a concrete cricket pitch be made for the hoys, at an estimate cost of £5. —Tho matter was left to the chairman to carry out. It wae decided to ask the Borough Connoil to have the drainage from Frances street, now running into the new school access road, diverted. Hie Chairman agreed to give a piece of land at the corner of his boundary to improve the access road, on condition that the board attended to the drainage and removed the fence —Tho offer was accepted with thanks. Accounts amounting to £l3O 6s were passed for payment. A subscription of £25 for the purchase of a picture was received from _ the Girl Guides with thanks, it being pointed out that tho donation carried a subsidy of £ for £.

BALCLUTHA W.E.A. There was a good attendance at the meeting of the local branch of the W.E.A. last night in the Clutha County Hall, and Mr M'Cracken delivered a very interesting lecture based on “Sonia,” a story of the state of English society in 1914 (before the outbreak of war), by Stephen M’Kenna. Sonia, the pampered darling of rich parents, whose fortune had been founded on beer, was described in all her wilfulness and physical loveliness, and her philosophy of life was summe I up in the phrase from her own lips: “There are such millions of things i simply can’t do without . . . after all, what does matter in life? It’s frightfully serious to be ugly or to grow old, or not to know how to dress. . . . It’ll be frightfully serious if Lady Knightridor doesn’t ask me up for the Northern meeting, or if daddy doesn’t raise my allowance.” Incidentally Sonia was followed to the night clubs of London and their dissipations, the author describing the condition of England in those years immediately preceding tho war as “essentially neurotic. The pettiness and personal ambitions of the House of Commons, the artificiality and extravagances of society, tho lifelessness, tho want of purpose, the absence of enthusiasm, scorned to argue a dying civilisation.” At the close, tho lecturer put a number of questions to his hearers for the purpose of debate, and one of these was, "Were social butterflies of the Sonia type responsible for flic world war?” The Chairman (Mr Algio) answered in the negative, and others took up the affirmative side, but the discussion ranged over a variety of subjects, from the prolotarianism of Karl Marx to the Bible in schools in New Zealand. The speakers were the chairman and Messrs J. Cochrane, J. Stonhcna. A. Thomas, J. Cameron, George Hunter, James Clark, J. W. Fenton, Misses Moir and Henderson, and Mesdames Stephens and Clark. A resolution was passed asking Dr Fisher, of Otago University, to deliver a lecture on the occasion of his approaching tour of the W.E.A. classes. The next fortnightly lecture is entitled “A Novelist and the Divorce Problem,” based on "J f Winter Comes,” by A. S. M. Hutchinson.