"There is a tendency to the development of the military aspect in education, and I believe it is a fatal mistake." said Professor T. Hunter at a meeting in Wellington the other night (states the Post).
"Put the tinsel on as thickly as you will, war cannot be other than brutal. Primitive man was brutal. Civilisation means overcoming the brute in man. It is wise to stimulate the brutal element in man by military drill and military display at an age when the forces of the brute are relatively strong and the forces of civilisation are relatively weak? I am not a pacifist. I believe there is a lot to be gained by fighting. But I believe that military training should be restricted to those who have had the benefit of social and civilising influences."
Pigroot bridges
Messrs Ansell and Halliday, representing the Otago Motor Club, waited upon the Waihemo County Council at Palmerston on Saturday, with a view to discussing the question of bridging all the streams on the road through Dunback to Naseby. Mr Ansell pointed out that the bridging of the Pigroot and Shag Rivers would be a great benefit to motorists, particularly those resident in Otago Central. He complimented the council on its excellent roads, stating that they were an example to many other local bodies in Otago, as they had invariably shown themselves desirous of keeping abreast of the times. Reverting to the question of bridges, he said his club would be prepared to assist the council financially if a proper scheme of bridging were undertaken. He was informed that the erection of bridges over the Pigroot and Shag Rivers was about to be undertaken, and if the Motor Club could see its way to contribute to the cost of erecting a bridge over Sweet Creek, that also would be put in hand. He agreed to recommend to the Motor Club that a sum of money be voted for this bridge.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s ego
Our London correspondent sends the following extract from the Morning Post:— "The founding of a club to his memory in Edinburgh is a memorial after Robert Louis Stevenson’s own heart, for did he not count conversation one of the high arts of life? Some of the happiest hours of his youth were spent in an institution of the kind, the old Edinburgh Speculative Society, better known as the ‘Spec.’ Curiously enough, though he was a most regular attendant at the ‘Spec’ meetings, and was destined to noise its fame abroad, R. L. S. does not seem to have made much of an impression on his fellow-members. He was, however, elected one of the society’s five presidents — but at the bottom of the poll — in 1872, and re-elected in 1873, when in a valedictory address he gave a characteristic sketch of Mr Stevenson explaining to fellow-members that he is the cleverest person of his age and weight between this and California.’"
Bookkeeping advocated in schools
A remit, asking that bookkeeping be taught in the schools to children in the Sixth Standard, has been passed recently by the Matamata branch of the Farmers’ Union. It was pointed out that boys and girls, on leaving schools in the country, should possess a rudimentary knowledge of the principles of bookkeeping, especially in view of the fact that the farmers are required to keep books and submit accounts to the Government.
— ODT, 23.3.1920.
