The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1948 THE AIR DISASTER

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 November 1948, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1948 THE AIR DISASTER

TTIE discovery of the wrecked Lockheed Kaka on the slopes of * Ruapehu resulted in the organisation of one of those expeditions into mountainous country with which this country is from time to time familiar. In this instance some 'new features were added. Previously the problem has been to take succour to those who were in distress or to bring out the deceased when disaster has occurred. The finding of people who are lost in mountain regions is always difficult because people are not lost in obvious places, but in out-of-the-way locations. It is when they have wandered from the well-defined tracks that people become lost. Given clues, however, the average experienced mountainer can figure out from the lay of the land and the recent weather what the average person would do. It would be as well, however, if climbers and Hampers were given precise instructions what to do in cases of emergency. The first and obvious preventive against disaster is to be sufficiently well clad to withstand a night in the open, and to have rations to hold up against an emergency. The old axiom of the bushmen when lost is to remain where you are and if possible light a fire and, if you do move, leave at the camp site a message explaining the prospective move. This gives to the traveller a good chance of getting out and of being followed with greater certainty. The loss of the Lockheed airliner through it coming into contact with the mountainside requires to be investigated in order to prevent, if possible, similar mistakes occurring, whatever those mistakes may have been. It was, no doubt, in order to secure as much information, accurate and undisturbed information, concerning the wreck, which induced the Air Department to call in the Army to put the disaster area “out of bounds for civilian population. That the Army did an efficient job in this direction is all to the good. It is unfortunately true that too many members of the public cannot be brought to exercise not only common restraint but even common decency in the face of such a happening as the present disaster. The souvenir hunter has not the slightest trace of a conscience. It is because of this class of conduct that it would have been unwise to have allowed the public to have had access to the scene of the disaster. Further, it would have been an easy matter for further disaster to result through people who were insufficiently equipped venturing into the high country. A sudden change of weather conditions could not be left out of account, An investigation of the wreck by experts may lead to valuable conclusions being arrived at and this expert investigation should take precedence over all else, because it may mean the saving of countless lives. There can be no cavil at the imposition of restrictions on movement in the area. The special position of representatives of the Press, however, is equally a matter of great importance and it is to be hoped, as a result of representations made during the week-end that in future obstructive tactics will not be countenanced by anyone in authority.. The newspaper representative is not drawn to such events by idle curiosity, but as a professional duty. The work is arduous and sometimes it is hazardous and, for this reason, every facility for news-gathering, which is fact-gathering, should be provided. In this instance the Post and Telegraph Department and the police seem to have done an excellent organisational task, to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. The searching out of facts is no easy task and it has become more and more apparent that pressmen are skilful interviewers whose minds are trained to the task of eliciting what is in the mind of the person interviewed and the results are often very valuable to a subsequent enquiry effort. Pressmen, being more than usually knowledgeable, too, are able to direct their enquiries along the line that subsequent expert enquiry is likely to move qnd consequently the Press enquiry made on the spot by an impartial investigator can become a matter of very great moment. The satisfying of the public that the disaster is being properly handled is an important effort in morale building, for the work of the authorities is likely to be made much more difficult if, as a result of the circulating of rumours, a wave of public resentment gets under way. It is desirable from all sides that the newspaper representatives, who are responsible men unlikely to interfere with any material that may be required as evidence in a subsequent investigation, should be given full and free access to do their helpful work.

’ EDUCATION AND THE CROOKED KNEE

TTIE president of the New Zealand Education Institute, Mr. G. A H. Robertson, addressing a meeting of about one-fifth of the institute’s district membership, made an attempt to answer the criticisms that are levelled at the condition of education today. The first appeared to have been dismissed on the ground that it emanated from laymen who did not preface their observations with the averment that they were laymen. The second was directed against Miss Elaine Newton who, as an ex-teacher, and a successful one, could not be so dismissed. The method of argument is certainly an improvement on a previous holder of this office who, when addressing a branch of the Institute at Whangarei, referred to the “idiot fringe.” Such a method of endeavouring to dispose of criticism that has been voiced by organisations of teachers that have as much right, and possibly more right, to public attention than the Education Institute, need not be met for it reveals an empty battery of argument, Laymen do not engage in the task of criticising the technique of teaching because that is a professional subject on which it would be unwise for the layman to trespass. But laymen are speaking out of their own experience when they aver that the youngsters who are coming to them today lack the characteristics which a good schooling ought to inculcate. It has never been expected by the least responsible critic in the Chambers of Commerce that the secondary schools should turn out youngsters of say seventeen years of age who are incapable of making a spelling mistake or who are competent bookkeepers. The actual practice at the work of an office must be engaged in before accuracy can be expected. But what the layman does marvel at is the degree of slipshod work that is presented as good enough and that is a subject on which a layman is competent to express an opinion that is of value. It has never been claimed that Miss Newton is in need of assistance to expound her own position in respect to education, but the layman cannot fail to notice that despite her criticisms of the educational system which are every bit as cogent as those of Miss Louden, late headmistress of the Epsom Grammar School, that criticism of neither the former nor of the latter are ever attempted to be answered. For a president of the New Zealand Educational Institute to say: “I frankly cannot sec anyone in New Zealand, from the Director of Education downward, who is capable of criticising the work of these authors (Dewey and Zilliacus). I would never expect that anyone in New Zealand would have the temerity to state that these men were talking ‘hooey.’is to open himself to the charge of not being an educated man in any sense of the term. The essence of all education is to train the individual to bring his own critical faculty to bear upon any subject under the sun and to accept no doctrine whatsoever merely on the say-so of some Hitler or Mussolini. Two world wars have been fought simply because the attitude towards alleged authority, uncritical and subservient, was adopted by large numbers of men in the manner indicated as an appropriate attitude by the president of the New Zealand Educational Institute. If ever there was evidence available which the. laity can evaluate as disturbing, it. is provided by the crooked knee mentality exhibited by Mr. <l. 11. Robertson, president of the New Zealand Education Institute. It is this very attitude of mind that is causing so much concern and it is not. surprising that he should label without refuting Miss Newton’s criticism as “clearly animated by political anti-Government venom,” nor is it surprising that he should improve the shining hour by going on to say that “statements by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, when he was Minister of Education in 1939, had actually formed the Magna Charta of educational policy.” What a benighted country New Zealand must have been before 1939!