USING LEISURE TIME

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20387, 30 December 1937, Page 9

USING LEISURE TIME

CREATIVE WORK NEEDED

SCHOOL INSPECTOR’S APPEAL CURRENT ISSUE OF THE POSTMAN The Postman, the annual magazine of the New Zealand Education Department's Correspondence School, has again proved to he a very fine publication, and the thousands of pupils who benefit under the expert tuition of the large staff, as well as others, should find in its pages plenty to occupy their minds. Apart from the general curriculum of the school, other Items of interest a»e the original articles and verse, guide and scout notes, the gardening circle, camera club, red cross work, the League of Nations Union, library notes, etc.

! The more profitable use of the • leisure hours made available to people | by Government legislation, is advocated j by the Chief Inspector of Primary | Schools, Mr J. W. Mcllraith. He > says:—"How leisure time is spent is partly a matter of the qualities with which nature lias endowed you, and partly tiiat of the education you have received in the .home, the school, or among your associates. We spend it in various ways both productively and unproductively. At times we merely sit and watch others at the theatre, the football field or the wrestling ring, thus escaping from the real life by imagining we are the heroes or the heroines, whose adventures we are watching. It is the same often with the reading of fiction. At other times it is physical action which attracts us giving us delight in a body responsive to the demands made upon it. More rare, however, is the leisure spent in creative work when we fashion new things with our hands or weave them from the imaginings of our minds.”

The headmaster, Dr. A. G. Butchers, reviews in his report a very satisfactory year full of progress. A number of new pupils were enrolled. An appeal for the preservation of peace throughout the world is made by the junior branch of the League ol' Nations Union. It is maintained that such pacifism is possible only through the actions of individuals. If such effort can he obtained then war, which in spite of the conditions prevailing in Europe and the East to-day is not imminent, can he avoided.