THE WENDY HUT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 289, 7 December 1939, Page 11

THE WENDY HUT

OUR CHILDREN’S CORNER

My Dear Children, Heigh Ho ’ Another week nearer the glad festiva- when all our small folk look forward to the arrival of good old Santa Claus. How the time is flying. Soon there will be school break-ups and holiday I wonder how many will find their way to the Exhibition? When reading my paper the other morning at breakfast I came across a report of the many activities resorted to by children from certain schools in order to attend thr Centennial function. Perhaps many of you did not read this report and sj I am going to ask Mr. Printerman to reprint it just to show you how resourceful these children have been. The report is as follows: —North Auckland children, comprising a party of 300 Europeans and Maoris, will visit the Centennial Exhibition early in 1940—not one of these children has visited a city. This visit has been possible mainly through the efforts of the chldren themselves in the district, whose ages range from 11 to IS. To date they have amassed a total of £5OO, and their object is to make their week's holiday at a cost of not more than £5 for each child, with all expenses, including travel and accommodation included. District schools and clubs have raised money to send, as thenrepresentatives to th Exhibition, boys and girls whose parents could not afford to send them to Wellington. The children to make the trip wiil be sent with the approval of the people in their own district. In some places a properly constituted election will decide which is to be the lucky representa've; others will be selected on points gained at schools sports gatherings; some are being drawn by ballot. At one school an intelligence test .’: proposed to select the candidate most likely to benefit from the trip. It is planned that the children will have three full days at the Exhibition to study its social and cultural aspects and also to enjoy thoroughly all the fun of the fair. In Gammon’s Road School —a tiny singleroomed building, 20 miles from Kaikohe —the boys have chopped all the firewood for the school and have been paid for it, and they have also chopped wood to be sent to Kaikohe, their nearest township, for sale. At Matarau School, in the Hokianga district, children have contributed their pennies to swell their school fund, and Hikurangi children have tramped the countryside, some travelling up to ten miles, collecting bottles to sell. "I was late for school because I waited on the road for a man who comes to buy bottles,” was the excuse of one small Maori boy early in the campaign. Nearly £5 has been earned by Edwin Williams, of Owhiwa, who has grown plants, sold bottles, and acted as an agent for a bookseller. At Kahanui Native School, a native settlement near Kaukapakapa, the children have grown vegetables for sale and assisted their teacher in poultry-keeping. They have also sold bottles, bones and fungus and carried groceries fo isolated settlers. In this way individual effort and organised enterprise have been combined all through Northland to make this trip possible for 500 young New Zealanders who otherwise would have missed the greatest Exhibition the Dominion has known. Now, it cannot be denied that although tribute is due to the children themselves, deep appreciation is also warranted for the efforts of those who have guided and fostered the project for many months past. May good fortune attend this great effort. Well, dears, I fancy I can hear Mr. Printerman’s footsteps out there in the corridor, so until next Letterland Day I send you my warmest love and kisses from your ever affectionate— WENDY

“MUST BE THE VERY BEANSTALK UP WHICH JACK CLIMBED TO GIANT LAND.” Everybody knows that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is only a fairy tale, but after visiting certain parts of India one might almost feel inclined to doubt it and to fancy that Jack and his mother and the cow are ah there if one only knew tile right way to look for them. The rainfall in these particular parts of India, you see, is very high, and in consequence the great trees in the forests are often half strangled by extraordinary creepers, the biggest of which is known to botanists as Entada Scandens. It has a huge pod, three 'feet long and more than four inches across at the widest part. As for the stem, it is more like the anchor chain of a great ship than anything else! Surely, one exclaims, on seeing it for the first time, this must be the very

1 'beanstalk up which Jack climbed into IGiant Land! ' Speaking of the vegetation of India '■—a country teeming with wonders ol I every kind—one is reminded of wnut 'has been described as the world’s most 'remarkable tree, and is really a species -of wild flg. The odd thing about it is that the branches grow so strong and become so heavy that they are ■obliged to drop roots to support their tremendous weight. Later on these roots thicken and eventually become -trees themselves. It left alone a Banyan tree spreads and spreads until it covers an area of nearly an acre, and has hundreds of ■ trunks besides the mam one in the :centre. This amazing tree has small ■red fruit, about the size of a plum j stone, which is much appreciated by the Indian bats, generally known as “flying foxes" because their sharp muzzles and beady eyes. What happened to the bad balloon? —lt got a good blowing up. ■* * * » Why must a bride expect her marriage to be a failure?—Because she never marries the best man.