PUBLIC OPINION.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1935, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION.

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS CONSOLIDATION OF COUNTY LOANS SUM OF £20,000 AT STAKE. (To the Editor.) • Sir—When Parliament in its wisdom passed legislation authorising local bodies to convert and consolidate their loans, it can hardly have contemplated that advantage would be.taken of this legislation to enable a small section of the ratepayers to obtain substantial relief at the expense of their fellow ratepayers. Yet this is the effect of conversion schemes as promulgated by pushful finance brokers, jockeyed through councils by interested parties and sanctioned by a bureaucratic Loans Board, acting in s contemptuous disregard of the expressed opinions of those Being adversely affected by the financial jugglery. Under these schemes a sum of approximately £20,000 is being unloaded by the payers of special rates in Egmont county on to the general ratepayers. This has been carried by 6 votes to 3. Of the six, four are payers of special rates. For their benefit the general ratepayers must pay higher rates for the next 23 years. Even at this eleventh hour I am confident that this iniquitous scheme can be thwarted. But it cannot be done at the council table. It may be necessary to carry the matter much further. A meeting of ratepayers has been called to consider the position. I shall be grateful for the opportunity of impressing on those interested that the sum at stake is not trivial, as has been suggested, but no less a sum than £20,000. Only if ratepayers come forward to make their opinion felt can a~ just settlement be secured. —I am, .etc., W. A. SHEAT. . Pihama, Sept, :5.. PHYSICAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS s (To the Editor.) Sir,—At certain periods we see the ordinary run of our schools put out of gear through the necessity of having the teachers attend a class of instruction in physical “jerks,” so that they, can impart them in turn to their pupils. We have had physical instruction at the schools; we have seen splendid displays by. pupils at exercises of great benefit to their bodies, and no doubt the cost'of necessary appliances'and salaries of the experts would come to a big figure. I was a strong supporter of "the notion in years gone by, but I then argued, and maintain now, that the idea did not go for enough, and had it been extended on the lines I suggested at the Moa School Committees’ Association many years ago we would not have at the present time the question raised as to ’ degeneration of the youth. It is now, as.it was in the past—the children were taught physical exercises, they were partly told the benefit of such, and while at school carried on. Leaving school meant cessation of those necessary exercises, the rudiments of which had been implanted. What a farce has been imposed upon the public! Why start such training of the infant if, at'the most important time of its life, and when con- • tinuity means a tangible benefit, it is allowed to lose the benefits of its school training? Why waste teachers’ time and the country’s money if such is to continue? \ '' ' ■ ' '"' '' ; After leaving school the girls should be made to attend continuation classes at a convenient centre where a gymnasium, should be provided, female professors or doctors should give lectures, arranged to suit the ages, on physiology; full instruction as to muscles and organs of the body should be imparted, and only on earning a certificate, earned by examination, should any girl be allowed to cease attending. With the boys •the same. They should be compelled to attend lectures by male professors or doctors and go through the same course of learning as to the value and use of muscles, etc., and go through such exercises as are deemed necessary to strengthen their bodies, the weaknesses of which had become apparent on examination. The same conditions of a necessary certificate for leaving should apply. I believe classes are in vogue with the Y.M.-Y.W.C.A., but I would go further. Once the pupils ,of both sexes got full knowledge of their systems and recognised the vim which regular organised physical movements meant to them, . I am certain there would be, no hang backs, and even after obtaining a leaving certificate from the learning gymnasium a. continuation would be given .effect to. Hang the cost. Is there not too much wasted now on things which pull down and destroy instead of building up and preserving? We prate about Healthy babies. What'becomes of them? The subject is big and has many side issues—l am, etc., JOE B. SIMPSON. Nevi Plymouth, Aug. 31.