ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3806, 22 February 1927, Page 34

ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON.

By

Pencarrow.

(Specially Written for the Witness.) February 16. The wonderful weather continues, ibis scribe has lived in Wellington for more than on e-and-twenty years, and has never seen the hills so brown and dry, never remembers a summer when bathing every day was joy, cannot recall a season when day after day for weeks on end, tennis and cricket could be played without a thought or doubt beforehand. There is little wind. At the week-ends the harbour is dotted over with white-sailed yachts, some of which have actually been becalmed. The beaches are crowded every Saturday and Sunday, and it is quite the fashion now for families to foregather after the week-days’ work is done, not at home, but somewhere near the sea, mother making the necessary preparations and taking out the goods by tram or bus. People who own cars are making full use of them. The community is living out of doors. The daily papers publish warnings about the danger of fire—matches dropped carelessly might start a blaze which our wonderfully equipped fire brigade would find difficulty in subduing. Now and again, at night, we smell smoke, and looking out have seen red creeping flame of a grass fire can be observed, and on such occasions we remember our great asset at Day’s Bay— Williams Park, which provides rest and recreation for thousands during the summer months. It is difficult to imagine what the community would do without that cool, green, sheltered forest, with its birds and running water, its

winding paths, its glimpses of a harbour so beautiful that even Aucklanders have been known to express their admiration, though they generally add “But of course you haven't got ” —No, we haven’t — but there is something else, a charm not met with elsewhere—but now I come to think of it a poet once made that remark about his own horbour of refuge. Wellington’s smiling welcome matched the happy countenance of the Prime Minister who stepped ashore on Monday morning after his important mission tc the Homeland. There was no need for him to say he was glad to be back. The fact was obvious. So was the delight of his children, who went out in the stream to meet their parents. Ministers had collected to greet their chief, and the city bad prepared a welcome which took place >n the Town Hall that night. In reply to various speeches at that function, Mr Coates referred appreciatively to the work carried out during his absence by the Hon. W. Downie Stewart and his colleagues. He also referred to “that wise. experienced and capable statesman, Sir Francis Bell,” whose knowledge has been of inestimable value at the Imperial Conference, and his helpf il counsel, so appreciated by the Prime Minister himself, while in London. Mr Coates has returned burning with enthusiasm, confident in the future, fully alive to the present state of things, proud of New Zealand’s good name, and. above all, impressed with the character of the British people. Mr and Mrs Coates are leaving very soon for Auckland, where they will await the arrival of the Duke and Duchess. Their brief time here is fullv occupied.

_ Wellington s preparations tor the royal visit are complete—or very nearly so. The illuminations will be truly beautiful. If fine weather continues the prepared roads will have ■ received their coating of tar or bitumen, and some of the present dust nuisance ■will be allayed. At present things are rather trying. There is a good deal of building going on, and the noise of steam hammers, added to that of the rollers and other implements of torture, is exasperating- to many' whose nerves are frayed by the unusual heat and bustle. But the open sea, with its cooling breezes, is not verv far away, providing certain tonic for all who have the sense to take it. The Education Board is debating the wisdom or unwisdom of employing married women teachers. There has been a breezy meeting at which the debate took place, the subject having been introduced by one member who is concerned because there are 60 trained teachers seeking jobs which are not open. . He wants an investigation, there being 57 married tcacchers, some of whom, he considered, might make way for girls who are not married. Whereupon another member rose in his wrath and made emphatic protest against “the treatment of marriage as a crime.” Nevertheless it was decided that the list of married

women teachers shall be reported upon to the board by a sub committee. This interesting discussion jiaturally brings the Training College under public notice again. We lazily pursue our way, conscious of the obvious fact that there are training colleges at which vast numbers of young men and women receive some sort of preparation for imparting book knowledge to the young. Very occasionally we ask ourselves what qualifications —apart from scholarships—are required from the trainee. It is generally admitted that an ideal educational system would-'encourage only the obviously suitable candidate for admission to the Training College. Sometimes a member of the general public gets up and asks if the students, who overcrowd the college are all cut out for helping to shape tlie young idea. The reply is not always satisfactory : but “the man in the street” merely shrugs his shoulders and says he is glad it is not his funeral. Yet he never hesitates to criticise the methods of those who do attempt to shoulder some public responsibilities. It is the pack which does the yelping, while the leaders do tlie work. The, campaign for raising £50,000 to pay off the debt on our Kaiitane Hospital opens tomorrow. Two thousand women are selling half-crown flags in the city and its suburbs. Some of the country districts are subscribing. It is hoped that the beautiful hospital will be opened free of debt by the Duchess ot York, who will inspect an institution which is to be an object lesson to other places it its kind. Already, famous Australian doctors, having seen it just before'completion, have asked Sir Truby King's permission to send over the matrons of their motherciaft societies so that they may sec how things are done in the ideal place, the site of which was presented tj Wellington by Sir Truby King, whose home, is near.