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Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 711, 6 January 1903, Page 3

An interesting sight was witnessed recently in Exeter Hall, when a groat number of soldiers took part in a convention—not for the removal of grievances (that would have been contrary to the rules of discipline!, but tor the betterment of their condition in the social and religious sense. They were present from many regiments as delegates of the Soldiers’ Christian Association. This organisation was formed nine years ago, and is now as widespread as the British Army itself. The gathering that _has iust taken placo was the largest 01 the iind yet hold, nearly 1000 delegates sitting down to lunch in the great ball as guests of Sir George Williams, the founder of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and president of the Soldiers’ Christian Association. Every kind of uniform in tho army was represented, and tho districts from which the men came included London, Aldershot, Windsor, Canterbury, Portsmouth, Dythe, Shorncliffe, Dover, Woolwich, Colchester, Caterham,. York, Edinbugh, Glasgow, and Dublin. There was a largo contingent also of men recently home from South Africa, in all 140 more delegates being presont than at last year’s Convention. Several soldiers recently returned from the front bore witness to tho excellent work done by the association in South Africa, and a sympathetic letter was road from Lord ’ Roberts,

Whilo a young man named James Lawry was riding in the bush near Lawrence, New South Wales, he was knocked violently against a tree and thrown. He was picked up in an unconscious condition, and was conveyed to Maolean Hospital for treatment of conoussion of the brain- He never regained consciousness, and died eoou after admission,

Fruit bulks very largely among Tasmanian exports. For the year ending last July the values of exports were as follows : Fruit, £418,000 ; wool, £251,000 ; potatoes, £309,000; oals, £16,000.

In an article favoring the principle ol competitive examinations, the Auckland Herald states “ When our footballers no longer pit themselves against each other in the struggle for “the cup” ; when runners, ewimmers, jumpers, no longer strive to break records ; when yachtsmen no longer care to sail the fastest boat of her class, and when horsemen no longer toil to carry off the blue ribbon of the turf ; then our boys and girls, our young men and maidens, the studiousiy inclined in classroom and lecture ball, will ceased to be spurred on by the racial craving to excel. Even those pessimistic critics who declare that the only remedy for, the evils attached to the examination system is to destroy it root and branch have no injurious effect upon the enthusiasm with which the multitude flocks to be examined. Rorke’s Drift may lie held by “plucked ” lieutenants. Great inventions may he born in the brains of men who stood low in science classes. The prizes of the practical world may be easily carried off by those who utterly failed to win great prizes as students. , Amid it all the system flourishes, too deeply rooted and too full of vitality to be scotched. Obviously it will bear investigation and criticism. And only those purblind to harsh facts will question that investigation and criticism are needed. , . . Yet in the examina-j tion room one is often compelled to imagine that in practical life lltere is no such tiling as atlas, tables of dates, printed mathematical formulae, dictionary and encyclopaedia. It is evidently assumed that the loading of the memory with a vast mass of detail, embodieid in print, is the purpose of education. With the result that in the persistent working up to the examination day the intellect is, largely buried and much time is wasted in a positively injurious manner. It is from such abuses as this that the examination should be freed, since examinations wc must always have.