Topics of The Times

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26272, 2 October 1946, Page 4

Topics of The Times

by Hydra.

- Sailormen, as we have had occasion to observe in visits to ships' wardrooms, are usually an undemonstrative folk. There is. however, an emotional aspect to their character which can be brought out by earnest application to snipboard methods of hospitality, though by the time this emotional trait emerges ‘ and the seafarers become openly sentimental and given to singing the unfortunate landlubber is wholly incapable of making a dispassionate survey of the subject. We arcmoved. therefore, by the desire of the complement of H.M.S. Philomel to save '■ their old ship from the scrap heap, .and we sympathise with them in their determination to have her sunk with fitting ceremony in New Zealand waters. We cannot help but be alarmed, however, at the possible extension of this idea that an institution which has outlived its usefulness should be blown up, sunk, or otherwise irrevocably and uneconomically destroyed. The thought evokes possibilities that we hasten to thrust from our mind. Round about November 28. for instance, there may be many veterans of a different kind who may consider that a certain building in Wellington has become obsolete. That place costs us enough now. and we have no desire to contribute to the cost of a new one. t We welcome, with the subdued handclaps we reserve for such occasions, the opinion of Comrade Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashlivi—&hort for Joe Stalin —that there is no danger of war , between the Soviet and Great Britain <- or America. Apparently the broadsides that Stalin’s minions at Paris have been loosing off every so often are just manifestations of Slav ebullience and the Russians are one with us in the pursuit of peace and the quest for happiness. Russia, according to Stalin, has no fear of anyone, no fear of encirclement, no fear of war. The danger of war involving Russia does not exist , to-day, he said. Personally, we had • very much the same idea, but we preferred someone with Stalin’s authority to say it first. We don’t want war, < and we’re with you all the way. Gene- • ralissimo. We can’t make an atom bomb, either.

We feel that the National Commission on Education is tackling the problem from the wrong end in recom- • mending to the United Nations that school history books should be pruned 1 of their nationalistic and military character. What we recall of the history of Empire did not in any way " excite us to perform prodigious feats . of militarism or even invade our - neighbours’ back yard—unless, perchance, the neighbour owned a plum tree. We admit, of course, that we were only Kids and had no earnest T committees to tell us what was developing in our infantile minds, and we feel aggrieved that we were not warned of what was expected of us. As we remember it, we were content to keep one date.ahead of the reminder that lay in the teacher’s drawer and while we are about it we would like to refute, authoritatively, the suggestion that teaching is a sedentary occupation that fails to develop the muscles. To the child who has to learn by role the dates'on which the hellbrew of politics bubbled over into the flames of war. conquest becomes less than an empty dream. It becomes, in fact, a bore and a nuisance. " if the National Commission really wants to do something about intense ' nationalism let it start with the generals and the little dictators who did not have to endure our system of , ’ schooling. Is there a little Hitler with eyes beyond his own border? Let him learn' what the consequences of a hasty act will mean to generations of unborn children. Come up in front, little man, and repeat 20 times that on such and such a date you invaded Gree- .. laria. Now bend over, son, and touch your toes while we give—you —this —to help—you—remember —it! The more we think of the idea the better we ' like it.