JOTTINGS BY THE WAY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3760, 25 May 1936, Page 5

JOTTINGS BY THE WAY

NOTES AND COMMENTS. , ITEMS OF INTEREST. (By lan Rosach.) Spasmodically there is a mild agitation in Hamilton for the erection of a town hall. That there is an urgent need for such is apparent to all who give the town’s progress a moment’s thought. It is surprising, to say the least of it, that a town of Hamilton’s size should be without such an amenity. Even the old Town Hall (now the Civic) was better than none It is to be hoped that when the hall is built, or rather before it is, that the job of designing >• the building will be given to an architect having a first class knowledge * of acoustics, for we have too many buildings in which one has to strain one’s ears to hear what is going on.

I was an interested spectator at a case heard in the Magistrate’s Court last week. And I marvelled at the accuracy of press reports of the action, for the witnesses spoke so quietly, or rather their words were lout in the poor acoustics of the room,. An excellent example of what a town hall should not be.

The annual invasion of our Dominion by Yankee wrestlers is in full swing. I note that an enterprising peddlar of holds, jolts and jars has been disqualified from appearing again in Auckland. My experience of wrestling (?) matches is that the rougher the tactics the better the crowd likes it. We haven’t advanced very far from the days when Nero pleased the crowd by his throwing the Christian:- to the lions act. ¥ * *

The annual conference of teachers in Wellington was Interesting for many reasons. One noted with satisfaction that some attention was devoted to vocational guidance—a side of education as yet . practically untouched in New Zealand. It is high time that a start was made in training specialists in this branch of education activities. There are far too many round pegs in square holes in all our callings. It is often a wonder to me that our Civil Service is of sb uniformly a high standard seeing that academic qualifications, with certificates of "character, are the sole means by which our young people enter Government services. There is none of the personal interview touch — a very desirable thing, as with applicants for positions offered by firms and private employers. To return to vocational guidance, a scheme adopted in one town I was in was useful. Members of the different professions, trades, etc., attended the high school and addressed the senior scholars, outlining the qualifications, terms of service, rates of pay, etc., of their particular calling. The boys and girls were thus given first hand knowledge, and helped them to assess tlieir suitability for that which they thought they would like to train. I commend the scheme to Hamilton secondary schools. ' I feel sure that prominent representatives of the professional, commercial and trade interests would cooperate in such a scheme.

I am sure we are most interested in learning, from London, of the intention to change the colour of the riband of the Order of the British Empire. Most frightfully important and jolly, eh, what! One wonders what mysterious reasons there are for such a serious decision. A lighter colour is being sought. What about a nice shade of pale pink for New Zealand O.B.E’s, somewhat appropriate in these days of Michael Joseph. Perhaps Messrs Coates, Forbes and Polson would prefer a blue, for according to them the outlook for the Dominion is decidedly of that colour. Better set up a Royal Commission, or defer the matter for consideration, by the Imperial Conference in Londo i next year.