GIVE THE POOR CHILD A CHANCE

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12734, 1 April 1909, Page 7

GIVE THE POOR CHILD A CHANCE

More Schools and Fewer Jails The president of the Local Government Board opened at Anerley recently (says the Scotsman) new classrooms built as an addition to the North Surrey District Scbcol, and afterwards presented prizes to the more successful boys and girls who are boarded and educated ir this Poor-law institution. Mr John Burns, who was loudly rhron~' ;| , said they were met to open this new burling in order to keep pace? with the n^.v ideas which had advanced beyond the limited aim and outlook of I'oor-law instruction 60 years a^o, when this institution was founded. The new movement was founded on the opinion that education must be separated from sustenance, and culture: front dependence, and that in tlie future we liiyst see that ath,wart 'the path of child life, the shadow of pauperism and the stigma of pendence were not thrown. He thought there was opportunity for an enormous number of childless pr-ople who were rich or comfortably situated to cheer their solitary and at times miserable existences by adopting children, who were less fortunate. (Laughter and cheers.) It would be good no<j only for |tho children 'nit for themselves. He would rather they wero nursing children than crooning over .^ats and dogs. (Renewed laughter ard cheers.) There were lots of friends of his who were only miserable because they had no children. (Hear, hear.) The more money we spent on schoolmasters the less we should want to spned on policemen apd jailers. There^was no branch of public expenditure on which money was so wisely spent, or rather invested, as in Dublic education in our ordinary schools, *nd this was no less true of Poor-law initruction. Turning to the boys and girls who formed part of his audience, Mr Burns asked them to remember who were f.he people who mostly found their way to the workhouses and infirmaries. They were general labourers, charwomen, ordinary, sempstresses, laundresses, and other men tnd women who depended upon unskilled labour. Boys and girls should neglect no opportunity of learning a trade or eqnipoing themselves with some other capability of being independent. Two of the "contacts" from the Corinthic who were placed on Somes Island developed into full-bloosomed measles cases, but they were "sickening" for the disease when they were put into quarantine last week. All the prisoners are steadily bridging the gap which lies between them and the freedom of New Zealand. Some of them will be brought to the mainland this week. During the earthquake last week a party of fifteen were close to the edge of Te Anau, which did not have a ripple, -when suddenly the water became agitated' and bubbles rose to the surface, giving the resemblance of a boiling 1 lake. Seven distinct shocks were counted, the lake being agitated in each case. Landslips occurred and added to the general commotion, the party having to take to the bush on account of the danger involved in keeping in proximity to the lake. "On the way down," a member of the Nimrod's crew stated "there were a number of cases put on board for the use of the ship's party. These were opened, and it was found they contained tracts. Why, we had enough tracts to paper the South Pole with ! They were sculling about all over the ship for weeks, and we were nearly going to give an armful or two of them to the people at Half-Moon Bay. It's all right .being religious, but tracts don't make you feel any more cheerful when the ice is haanivfT-fwH* your whiskers." A sensation was caused at the Waitapu wharf on Monday evening on the arrival of the s.s. Wairoa from Collingwood, says the Argus. A married lady resident of Takaka was waiting there for a passenger with a good handy-sized horsewhip, which she -proceeded to use vigorously on the back of a gentleman well known in both districts, who had been on a canvassing tour of the local districts during the preceding week or two. There were no half measures about the manner in which the lady set about the vindication of her reputation, and the proceedings provided a very lively interlude for a large crowd of interested spectators. The London Daily Mail's great "scoop" — the very first information concerning the result of Lieutenant Shackleton's Antarctic expedition — imposed on the New Zealand Telegraph Department a task of considerable magnitude (says the Otago Daily Times). The long message sent out by Lieutenant Shackleton to the great metropolitan daily is understood to have comprised many thousands of words, and it was handed in at the small and very southerly receiving office at Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island. It was not unexpected, however. Mr James Mulvey, a telegraph operator from Invercargill, had been for some days stationed at Halfmoon Bay in anticipation of the Nimrod's arrival, and as soon as he received the manuscript from the hands of Lieutenant Shaekleton on Tuesday morning he set himself to the task of telegraphing it to the principal offices on the mainland. There it was divided into sections, and the direct cables between New Zealand and Europe being utilised, the whole story of an epoch-making expedition was in London in a few hours' time. Lengthy Press messages come frequently to New Zealand from London, but it is seldom indeed that so lengthy and so important a message goes to London from New Zealand.