News in Brief

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 752, 4 May 1933, Page 10

News in Brief

The Maori Language. It is surprising the number of Maori children in Wanganui who cannot speak their native tongue, says the Wanganui “ Herald,” and in some Maori homes a native word is seldom heard. It is interesting to note that a number of classes in Maori have recently been formed in Wanganui, and are attended by Europeans desirous of learning more of the language. It is understood, also, that members of a Wanganui club are to receive instruction in Maori. It wouild be strange, indeed, if the survival of the Maori language in the future had to depend upon the white race. Little Things With Big Names! “ At the risk of being burnt as a heretic, I am going to say that we are in danger of losing our balance in respect to research,” declared Mr T. A. Glendinning when speaking to the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry at Wellington. “ Every little investigation is labelled by this name,” he went on to say. “ Even literary men refer to the hunting up of references as research instead of the old familiar name of ‘ devilling,’ and the man in the street has decided to include ‘ research ’ along v ith inflation and deflation among the nostrums for getting us out of our economic mess. By all means let us research, but for heaven’s sake, let us be done with the con- ' temptible habit of calling little things by big names. When a student placed a suggestion for research before Lord Kelvin, his comment was usually, ‘What use is it?’ This was not mere materialism; it was a realisation that the student with limited time was better employed in developing than in starting anew. The scientist knows well that research means experiment, and that research of value usually represents arduous and protracted labour. It is a blazing of the trail and if too many are trail-blazing, there will be too few roadmaking.”