Sayings of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3, 17 July 1912, Page 3

Sayings of the Week.

Post Office Employees. THE Postmaster-General's recent regulation that officers in his Department who went in for gambling should be dismissed Jras very proper. The- Department occupied a position of public trust, and it could not be expected to be efficient if its employees were allowed to drink and gamble.—.sir Robert Stout. Higher Education. It was generally admitted that something more than a mere primary school education was nowadays needed in order to prepare boys for their life’s work; so that if the State was to derive the maximum benefit from its most precious asset —its young people—care must be taken to provide meaits for enabling the education and training begun in the primary school to be continued in the higher grade school.— Chief Inspector 31 ulgan. * * * * A Difficult Position. He knew the difficulties in the way of carrying on the financial affairs of the country, and though he was not trying to blow his horn, he might say that the control of finance was the most difficult task in the Ministry. The Minister for Finance required the cordial, sincere, and active support of the :!.i::-e as a whole. They should not try !>< p— pricking to pull his legs from : r his feet.— Rir Joseph Hard. • * . * Continuation Classes. The time is fast approaching when we in New Zealand will be compelled $ to the attendance at continuation classes compulsory.— lnspector Mulpan. Short Weight. The Department is constantly prosecuting crffender- under the ■''ale of Food and Drugs Act for selling short-weight bread and adulterated, milk. In the course of my inspection of various hospitals I have found short weights, par ticularly with regard to meat and bread, and steps have been taken that have brought about an improvement in the methods' Of supplying foodstuff- to our institutions. — It, Valintine. Chief Health Officer. The Council of Education. The Council of Education should determine what were essentia' subjects. The council .should be representative of all State educational institutions. and should appoint Departmental officers, principals of colleges, and inspectors of schools. The scope of the board should be enlarged. We. should go slower, and so allow of children getting their thorough grounding.— Ur Robert tec. Chairman Wellington Board of Education. The Arbitration Act. In the ]Ktst twenty years the Arbitration Act had been of very great benefit not only to the employers but also to the employees. It might be that it required amendment in some particulars, and that such amendment should receive early consideration in Parliament, but still it was the law of the land, and should Im- upheld.— Mr 1.. J. Ragnail, Auckland. • • « • An Intolerable Position. The Federation of Labour wished to “boss" the situation, but when it came to a strike in reality the public- were the bosses, and the public should be approached confidently to step in and stop an intolerable position, which was against the interests of the community.— Mr E. Anderson. Auckland. Good Business Men. He had mixed with the commercial men of America. England, and Africa, but he wished to associate with no finer business men than the commercial men of Auckland. The standard of commercial life in Auckland was very high indeed.—Mr Leo Myers.

Adva nee Australia. It must ever be rememliered that Australia will be a great naval Power in the Pacific, and it* influence will be felt more, and more a* the years roll on, as the nation increased in population, which foams the real wealth and strength

of a people if rightly applied. My hope as regards the naval policy adopted by the Commonwealth cannot be better expressed than in the words of the national motto—" Ad va nee Aust ra 11 a."— .1 J hi iral King-Hall. Labour's Square Deal. I have every sympathy for the genuine aspirations of Labour, and as long as I occupy the position on the Treasury benches as Minister for Labour. Labour will have a square deal.— The Premier. Two Profits. Bankers refused financial accommodation to small traders, forcing the latter to deal with certain large houses and pav [these merchants their own price for goods and a high rate of interest for

credit when required. Big traders were therefore able to get two profits on one deal—one on the sale price oL the goods supplied, and another by charging 8 or more per cent, for credit, which should be obtained from bankers at 5 per cent. —Mr I. T. Moore, Johnsonville. Cheap Coal. As far as coal entering into the cost of living, for domestic purposes. 1 might add that there is a large bed of lignite coal extending from ten miles to the south of Westport to a point fully fifteen miles further south, from which a very fair household coal could be mined and shipped and landed in New Zealand ports at about half the cost of bituminous. It is unworked for want of railway communication. — Mr Munro, Shipping Agent. Westport. No Funds. Individual settler- have not the means, local bodie* have not the necessary borrowing powers, to make good and sufficient roads. — Mr. V. 4. Winter. Useless Arithmetic. It was partly owing to this craze for examination* that although the syllabus gave special discretion for a rational treatment of the subject, so much valuable time was being wasted in schools in unprofitable work in arithmetic. Time

which should be given to subjects in the syllabus which were of vastly more importance were now taken up in laborious effort to master useless processes and to solve problems of ridiculous com* ydexity quite beyond the average child’s power of comprehension.— Mr />*. H. Bakeveil. Wellington.

An Unwieldy Parish. The area of the Raetihi parish, the newest pari-h in the Dominion, covered -something like 2000 square miles, and one corner of the vicar’s parish was 68 miles from the vicarage. The incumbent I the Rev. O- M. Stent) recently rode 100 miles to preside at a baptism.—— .4 >cftdrocoH Harper.

Crops and Chemistry. There was danger that agricultural in st ruction and rural course might- degener ate into mere growing of crops, whereas it should be the aim of schools to teach the elements of chemistry, physics. and biology, as applied to agriculture.— Mr R. Lee. Wellington.

Married Women and Public Posts. It is a disgrace to any department or to the head, of any department in this young country which needs population so much, to insist that positions in that department should only be given to women that know nothing about mater nity. and have had no experience in th? training of children.— Mr F. IV. Mackenzie. Wellington. A Large Percentage. Any Proportional Representation Bill would bring about a better state of affair-. than existed where proportional representation was not. As far as the Foiled Labour party was concerned, they could count on the support of 115 per cent of its members.— Professor Mills. The Examination Craze. Our whole educational system suffers from the examination incubus. Towards the end of the year every educational institution in the Dominion, from the university downwards, is in a perfect fever and turmoil of examination. Apart altogether from the physical injury (which may result to young children from the severe mental strain that the system entail’-, infinite harm is done to the interests of true education by this endless preparation for stereotyped und rigid examinations, and annul-

Lineotw examinations on paper of forge numbers of candidates cannot help being stereotyped and rigid.— Mr F. H. BuAcirell, Wellington. Back Country Trials. The food for the back country people could be taken to them for at least a quarter of the present cost if there were good means of getting it there. It was a great pity that the fruit which was grown in the country, and was wasting there, could not be got to the people in the towns at a lesser cost of transport, — Mr C. K. Wilson, M.P. Country Teachers. The sole teacher in a country school was especially deserving of consideration—the schools of Grade 0. 1. and 2. These teachers should be better paid, and provided with comfortable residences. which might l»e partly furnished.— Mr 7. R. Fleming. C hief Inspector, Wellington. ♦ * ♦ • Land Syndicates. In recent year-* Auckland syndicates had been operating extensively in Takapuna, buying and cutting up land to their own benefit, but doing it in a way which was quite detrimental to the district.— Mr. H. Brett. State Teaching for Adults. If it- is the duty of the State to teach religion to children, it is its duty also to teach it to adult*.—sir Robert stout Going Out or Coming In. A man told me the other day that the work of the salvation Army was going out. but there are a great many pessimists who think things are going out when they are really coming i.n.— The Rev. J. M. Sa un tiers. * ♦ * * Desire for Humbug. There was one factor which p‘l eaded all cla.'*es and increased the cost of living —the intense desire for humbug.— Mr. J. P. Frenyley. • « • • Eicensed Crime. It was a cause for regret that such work as was done so capably by the Salvation Army officers was required in New Zealand, but it appeared that while the people licensed crime with one hand it was necessary to reach out the other to raise the drunkard.— Mr. J. 11. Gunson, Auckland. ♦ * * * Values arid Rates. An alteration in value d«»es not mean .a reduction jot rates. Whatever th' values are. the city must have revenue enough for its maintenance. — Mi IF McLaren. Mayor of Wellington.