THE HON JAMES ALLEN

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10768, 14 May 1913, Page 6

THE HON JAMES ALLEN

HIS VISIT TO BRITAIN,

A BUSY WEEK. [Feom Oub Corkesfondent.] LON&OK, April 4,

The " homeward bound " itinerary of the Hon J. Allen, Minister of Defence, has now been definitely settled. He will—with- Mrs Allen, Miss Allen, and his private secretary, Mr Matthews, to bear him company—leave England on April 18 by the s.s. Empress of Ireland, which is due to arrive at Quebec seven days later. Mr Allen will not be able to spend much time with " Our Lady of the Snows," for ha is due to leave Vancouver on May 14i by tho s.s. Makura for New Zealand. En route through Canada Mr Allen and his party will make a three days' halt at Montreal in order to visit the famous M'Gill University and other scholastic centres in that city, and will make brief halts at Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara, Fort William, Winnipeg end Banff.

Mr Allen has had a very busy time of it at Home. His bitterest enemies cannot accuse him of having eaten the bread of idleness during his stay here, nor can they allege with any show of reason that he has not done his besti to keep New Zealand's flag flying riglit in the public eye whilst he has been in the Old Country. He must at any rate bo given credit for having done all that he could do in this direction, for he has never failed to accept an invitation to any function at which there was a chance for him to put in'a good word for New Zealand. As to the results of his mission, Mr Allen appears to be w T ell satisfied, though he confesses readily that in some respects he wishes that his stay here could have been prolonged, as there are many things in connection with. finance and education particularly to which he would have liked to devote more time than he has been able to do.

_ During the past week Mr Allen, visited Bradford in order to attend a great demonstration held in Sti George's Hall under the auspices of the National Service League. The New Zealand Minister was originally asked to attend in order to move a resolution to the effect that the meeting was "convinced that the safety of the country and the physical and moral well-being of the people demanded the adoption of national training, and called upon his Majesty's Government to complete the scheme of the Territorial Force by the legislative adoption of the principle of personal 6ervice in that force." This Mr Allen politely but firmly declined to • do, and rightly so. The question is one for the people of the United Kingdom alone, and for.a New Zealander, let alone a Minister of the Crown in that dominion, to move such a resolution would have been an impertinence. Recognising this fact Mr Allen refused to speak upon any resolution, and was therefore called upon to address the audience before any resolution was put.. He confined himself to telling 1 " those'present—-a' large proportion were mill hands—what had been done in New Zealand in the direction of citizen service. Mr Allen had been told that he would find a Bradford audience difficult to deal with, and he was agreeably surprised to find that the St George's Hall orowd had kept, apparently, an open mind on the question and seemed to approve of what New Zealand had done. The only interruption he met with was when he declared that; the dominion was "a working-man's paradise." Then someone ejaculated loudly. " Rot," an expression that evoked signs of disoleasure from the audience in the shap"e of cries of " Shut up," addressed to the interrupter. The resolution, which was eventually proposed bv. Lord Rochdale and seconded by Admiral Cuming, was car- v ried unanimously. Whilst in Bradford, Mr Allen, who was accompanied" by his daughter, Miss Rona Allen, was taken for a fifty-mile motor ride, during iwhich they visited the famous Bolton Abbey and other places of historic and ecenio interest in the vicinity. On the morrow they* motored to Manchester, Mr Allen having an appointment to visit the Sandal Bridge School for the Feeble-minded, near Allderley Edge, which is practically "run ".-by Misa Mary Dendy, a philanthropic lady who has for many years taken a; keen interest in the education of those of weak intellect. Mr AHen made a very thorough investigation of the methods adopted at this school, and thinks that he has learned many things that may be useful in New Zealand, especially in relation to the employment of people of feeble mind. One thing has apparently fixed itself on his mind as 8 result of his visit, and that is that in any scientific scheme for the education of "those who are mentally " not quite the thing," arrangements must be made for their being kept under control all their lives, ' otherwise they may become a menace to the oommuMr Allen was much' impressed by the nature of the work done—and well d one —by both children and adults in this school. Farm labour, gardening, carpentering, boot repairing, mat and basket-making, stocking weaving, netting, the making of clothes and most of the laundry work was all done by inmates of the institution. As regards the eternal question of the mixing of the sexes' at such institutions, Mr Allen still preserve* the open mind. From an economical point of view he is inclined to think that there are advantages in having males and females in one colony up to a certain age, but he is not prepared to come to any definite conclusion upon this point until he has made further investigations. The Hon James Allen was greatly interested' during his motor journey in the vicinity of Manchester in the enormous development of the manufacturing industries that has taken place since he last saw this district, but what struck him as being quite wrong was that the factories in many of the manufacturing villages were placed right down in the hollows instead of high up on the hills, where, a 9 he put it, the breezes of heaven could take the smoke and fumes right away and so render the workers' occupations less harmful to health. Returning to London late on Wednesday night, Mr Allen spent the forenoon yesterday_ at the _ War Office settling details in connection with defence matters in which New Zealand is much interested, and a good part of the afternoon was spent in the company of a certain London financier of high repute, from whom the New Zealand Minister of Finance was anxious to learn a few things, having, as he is very ready to admit, still some things to learn in the direction indicated.

This morning Mr Allen was closeted Avith Professor Werthimer, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Merchant Venturers' Technical College at Bristol, discussing the vexed question of the connection of technical college* with universities.