MILK SCHEME AND THE COUNTRY SCHOOLS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20673, 11 March 1937, Page 13

MILK SCHEME AND THE COUNTRY SCHOOLS

To the Editor of " The Timaru Herald.” Sir,—Permit me to appeal to the school committees and teachers in the country districts to raise a united voice in asking that free manuals and exercise books be provided for our children in lieu of milk. To give the country school children milk is equivalent to taking "coal to Newcastle," and parents naturally resent undue interference with what is really their prerogative, 1.e., “the feeding of their children.” In spite ot the idealism which lies behind this milk project, one feds that it is tantamount ' ' a vote ot no-confidence in the parents of this Dominion, because they are properly feeding their children. If the Incidence of malnutrition is causing such grave concern, why not extend the measures to counteract it, and supply not only milk, but bovril, porridge, weet-bix, raisins and other concentrated foods so that each child may have its particular needs. On the "Bible in schools" question, I understand the Government adopts a noninterference attitude. That is the State attends «to the temporal side of the child’s education and expects the church to look after the spiritual side. Good! Then why intrude on the parents’ domain, particularly prior to solving the fundamental problem of State schools; free education? If you please I do not desire your readers to misinterpret me and think there is a lack of appreciation of the Government's intentions and objects, but oh! Ijet us have first things first. Why even apart from ignoring to ssist parents in the burdm of providing necessary school-day material, the matter of the drinking water and sanitation at the majority of our country school is something to stand appalled at, and be heartily ashamed of.—l am, etc., J. HARRIS. “The Meadows,” Washdyke, March 8.

old High Mill at Eamont, but the plant will be re-erected in an extension of the firm’s premises at the Brown House, Kendal, already built and waiting to receive it. The workmen at the Eamont Mill will also be brought to Kendal and their employment continued. It will lie a pity if a new use cannot be found for the water wheel that cannot be removed. It is still an efficient prime mover. It has served to make gunpowder, to grind flour to grind snuff, and it could still very efficiently drive the saws of a timber saw mill. It is now and might remain like the snuff mills of the early eighteenth century, a visible and still useful piece of machinery belonging to the age before tire industrial revolution.