"DROP IN THE BUCKET”

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1930, Page 11

"DROP IN THE BUCKET”

ECONOMY IN PAPER.

SCHOLARS (CAN HELP.

“Pupils, if rightly handled,. will enter with zest into the spirit of the economy .of paper movement, as they did in bottle . collecting, during the war. We do not . wish them to be mean and niggardly,, but it is sound practical ecoiiomics to teach them to be thrifty. So writes Mr. W. ,=A. Service, Senior Inspector of Schools, Southland, in the November issue of the Education Gazette on the . question of economy and the possibility of exercising it in tho schools by a reduction in tho /waste of, paper. "After the war/’ says Mr. Service, “a Professor of-Economics remarked that if Germany • wete to discontinue'the use .of luxuries she could meet her monetary obligations in.a reasonably .short time. Human nature, however, does l not act thus, it being an economic truth that, once a certain standard of living has been experienced,: there , is very, considerable re- - Mstanco to its ( being reduced. It is safe to say that New Zealand could soon be relieved ;of -financial strain by sacrifice upon the part of its. people, but it does not seem as if any such solution of our present difficulties will eventuate. . We seem to lower our ’standard of living only when, as in war-time, commodities bdcomo scarce and prices are prohibitive. It is " a debatable . question as to whether or not jn more or less normal times, we should consider ourselves called- 'ppon to exert saving with sacrifice by giving. up. the ‘ spending of part of our incomes upon luxuries and in the . reasonable pursuit of pleasure. - These seem to ; be ■ more or less necssary for human efficiency. ' From them we derive a -Certain; utility which, if rightly enjoyed, helps to make life richc/r and happier than it. would be if we were restricted to -bare necessities. 1 If, howey'er,'. we purchase commodities whose h utility is nil, or at least’ negligible, we commit" one form of the sin. of ‘econo-, mje waste? Another .way of expressing it is to say that to avoid this ‘sin’ we. must endeavour to get the fullest possible’ utility from whatever commodities ;we pur'chase. ' ' Economic waste is one of the powerful factors in bringing about an adverse balance ■between: our - Imports and exports, and there should- be, at all times and in any., -copimunity, assiduous campaign against such waste. “I should say that there is in our schools at least one respect in which economic waste occurs, aid in .which , noticeable saving could, in the aggr e - gate, be reflected. I refer to the incomplete use of paper. Such waste is not, of course, intentional on the part of teachers and pupils, but we often fail tojget full value:.from, the paper/which the children.purchase.”' • ' '• / ’ Several ’suggestions are ' made by Mr. Service' as to ways in which teachers might, encourage their pupils to save paper. These, included the ruling, in by pupils of'.narrower margins (saving up to . four lines per page and about one page in six or seven) and also an extra line at' the top of pages, while the subject could be named on the outside of exercise books and daily headings inside dispensed with. As the willed page ,is liable to cause very considerable JdjV, M». ■ 'Service! stresses economi- - cal arrangement of entries.“Though the individual, saving may not be very great, the long-period value will be obvious to'teacher? ” says Mr. Service. “We have been ■ told frequently of the thrift idea being worked cut in., practice in other activities of the .. “It does not seem too high an esti- ■ mate to anticipate, the, possibility, of an annual Saving of, say/ Is per head on paper alone. This might be- something like £lO,OOO off the National Deot. Even though this is a ‘drop in the.bucket/ it is an of drops that fills the bucket. The method of approach here set out. might provide a means of inculcating the value of saviri<* with sacrifice, in its different forins. The collective thought upon, say, 000 might assist in giving what might be termed a thrift complex,: which appears to be somewhat absent among adult members of society to-day. With upper primary and secondary pupils the ■ economic importance of. thrift in its reaction upon the cost of living could be “uitable explained.”