The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1929. WORK AND PLAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18330, 30 July 1929, Page 8

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1929. WORK AND PLAY.

International contests for supremacy on (lie field of sport and struggles for possession of mythical “ashes,” periodically turn attention to the question of the exact relation of games and pastimes- to business. Obviously the All Blacks now in Australia lost tlie rubber to our neighbouring Dominion, not because New Zealand football is suffering an eclipse, but because many eligible players found it impossible or undesirable to secure the necessary leave of absence to make the trip. Many enthusiastic supporters of games and pastimes argue that too much is expected of first ; class players, since it should be remembered that while “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, - ’ there is a danger of a clash , between rival interests of games and business. In Australia, many employees are rather chary of entrusting administrative positions to first-class cricketers, 1 since it has been found that to play cricket for the State and perhaps for the nation, almost becomes a whole time job. Apro- . pos of this clash between games and business, it must be remembered that in the main, games impose tiie amateur status on the participants. There is no return for the expenditure of time, except the glory of the contest and sometimes the satisfaction which comes with victory, r it is interesting to note in this connection, the big demands made on the time of the players Who meet in the challenge round of the Davis Cup, just contested in Paris. The decision of Rene Lacoste, for instance, not to defend his title in the Wimbledon lawn tennis championships, owing to the claims of business, was naturally regretted, and no doubt raised some adverse com- _ ment, but the French tennis star knows his own business best. Rene Lacoste is a young and ambitious Frenchman in short, a 5 serious minded young man who is very keen to make progress in 2 the motoring concern in which 3 he works with his father. So far, however,'no explanation lias been offered for Lacoste’s elimination :. from the French Davis Cup team '• which has just successfully del fended the right to hold the title, t but it may be taken for granted s that tlie brilliant Frenchman, 1 although still a very keen tennis " player, is not likely to permit the . game to interfere with his business prospects. Lacoste’s decision ' reminds the English commentators of a remark made by W. T. Tilden last year at Wimbledon: “First-class tennis,” said Tilden, “is rapidly becoming a wholee time job, and I am not altogether j pleased that this is so.” Of course y Tilden is right. Many tennis players and high-class players in other realms of sport have found that when they reach the stage of repres_euting their country, apparently for some weeks they have not much time for anything else. In this connection attention was recently drawn to the claims made on the time of > a leading English tennis player, H. W. Austin, who for some months did little else but play tennis, only to break down in the i, inter-zone final. Obviously, Austin would subscribe to the " statement that lawn tennis in its f higher realms is a whole time !. job! But the critics are asking: “What kind of a job could Austin or other such tennis stars ‘hold down’ in conjunction with such a stressful tennis experience?” . Even in this country, there is a feeling that there is too much travelling indulged in by provincial representatives of games and . pastimes, and ambitious young 3 men who aspire to “hold down” responsible administrative positions hesitate to make the sacri--3 lice of such an inordinate ex- ‘ penditure of time in travelling about to play games, just when . their life’s careers are opening ■ out most attractive prospects.

THE FARMERS’ DECISION. Availing himself of an opportunity to discuss the question of “agricultural bias” in education, the Minister of Education addressed the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. In the course of his speech the Minister indulged in vague hints about reorganisation of the system of education in New Zealand, and he sought to support his views by mentioning one or two reports which have been issued in tlie Homeland. The Minister’s contentions were effectively challenged by a member of the Conference who reminded the Minister that the changes being made in England had not emerged beyond the experimental stage, and obviously it would be futile if not foolish for New Zealand to follow such an uncertain lead. The Minister repeated his previous classification in which he placed farming first, obviously oblivious of the fact that such a classification is unsound, since not every one is fitted for a life-long jou on the land, while there are trades and professions for which new staffs must be efficiently trained if New Zealand is to develop a well-balanced citizenship. The principal outcome of the discussion was the decision of the farmers to oppose

the junior high school. After considerable discussion, the Conference endorsed the following remit: “That this conference urges that the new enriched syllabus (with the adoption of form of the primary school syllabus and the proposed bias I wards agriculture) should be given a fair trial in our primary schools without the massed transference of senior pupils to other institutions.” For some time it lias been stated that the farmers from end to end of New Zealand were “coming into line” witli the ideas persistently propounded by the Minister of Education, but since no one knows just what is in the Ministerial mind, such a claim could not be substantiated. The decision of the farmers in spite of the Minister’s appeal to them to support his views, to oppose the mass transference of pupils from primary schools to other institutions is of considerable moment. The Minister told the conference that he intended to remodel the education system of the country to bring it into line with the national life of the Dominion. It is passing strange, however, that it remained for a conference of farmers’ representatives to remind the Minister of Education that a large measure of educational 'reform laid already been instituted in the form of an enriched syllabus for the primary school. Surely the Minister is not so small that he cannot give his predecessor in office the credit due to him for having given a new birth of educational freedom to tiie primary school in the form of an enriched syllabus! The farmers are less ungrateful. The conference decided to urge that the new and enriched syllabus should be given a fair trial in our primary schools without the massed transference of senior pupils to other institutions, and in doing so the farmers gave the Minister an eminently sound lead.