VALUE OF COMPETITIONS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12441, 6 September 1933, Page 2

VALUE OF COMPETITIONS.

LORD BLED!SLOE’S OBSERVATIONS. The presentation of prizes in connection with the annual festival of the Wellington Competitions Society at the Town Hall was marked by the presence of His Excellency the Governor- General and the Lady Bledisloe. Lord Bledisloe said he had noticed that the question had been raised as to whether competitions should bo held in these days of depression. His answer was that they were never more needed than they were* in times of economic stress. In his preface to the programnle, Mr Evan ; had said the competitions were not only for the training of the mind and tin? body, but also the soul and the spirit, and he was inclined to think that the perpetual dwelling on the state of mental depression. Anything that could be done to take one’s mind off business and professional cares, and to transport one to the higher plane of the soul and the spirit must have a tonic value, and from another point of view accelerate the time when they would all enjoy economic prosperity once more?. The judges have been impressing on competitors the importance nf being natural/’ continued the Gover- , nor-General. “When I was a small child I was told, in the presence of my sister, that there were two things in music which I should not—that boys should B sharp, and girls should B natural. I have never been con- ) vinced as to the value o r the advice addressed to the boys. There was always the danger that they be too sharp, and become ‘sharpers.’ But in rill young people there should be the desire to be as natural as possible."’