ANZAC DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21910, 23 March 1933, Page 11

ANZAC DAY

OBSERVANCE IN SCHOOLS TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE CRITICISED. (Pee United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 22. The’observance of Anzac Day was discussed by the Wellington Education Board, when it was moved that the secretary be empowered to send out the usual circular detailing the proper observance. Mr J. J. Clark expressed the opinion that the time had come when the whole question of the observance should be reconsidered and whether the service should be held on the - actual clay or the day prior to it. He mentioned that in one suburban school the headmaster, one teacher, and about half a dozen children were present last year when a returned soldier arrived to address the scholars, and this in a school with a roll of about 500. It wag time, he considered, to discontinue the services at schools and to inculcate the lessons of Anzac Day at the school on the day previous. _ Mr - W. H. Jackson said it should be a serious offence for a teacher not to attend Anzac Day services. “The day is a holy day, and not a holiday,” said the chairman (Mr T. Forsyth). “Teachers have no right to regard the day as a holiday and go away, a thing they are much inclined to do, especially if Anzac Day falls on a Friday or a Monday. The board’s instructions are plain, and are to the effect that the teachers should be present with their classes. SERVICES IN DUNEDIN. Arrangements in connection with the official services on Anzac Day, April 25, are now being made by the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association, and it has been announced that the services will take the same form as last year. The returned men and others taking, part will march to the Queen’s Gardens, where a short service will he held, and wreaths will be laid at the base of the memorial. The chief service will then be held at the Town Hall, the speaker being Dean Cruickshank. The association is also endeavouring to comply with requests for speakers, which have been received from many country districts.