The Minister of Education, M. I. H. Unwin, moved the second reading of The Voluntary Subjects Extension Bill, the principles of which were :1. That a total of four options be taken by all members of the Transitus and VIth. 2. That one optional subject be taken by all members of the Vth forms for three periods per week. 3. That an additional afternoon be devoted to optional subjects for the IVth forms and Shell. In his speech he spoke of the purposes of the education offered by the Public Schools, saying that such an education aimed at producing a well-educated man with a wide range of knowledge. This could only be effected by a general education which need not interfere with examination work. J. B. Mortimer, as leader of the Opposition, said that whilst over specialisation was a danger, over generalisation was even more so. He emphasised the importance of examination results, and argued that further indulgence in optional subjects would be detrimental. Speeches were also made by Jackson, Markus, Cobham, D. J. Wilson, E. G. Thompson, Chatterton, R. M. Booth, Frater, Pringle, and Beeehall. The Bill was decisively defeated.
BRITISH SHIP ADOPTION SOCIETY The "Mountpark's" movements this term have consisted of but one passage—from Sydney, N.S.W., which she left on 9th January, to Liverpool, where she arrived on 9th March. The route was via Panama, and thus the voyage again took the ship around the world, for the outward trip was via Morocco and the Suez Canal, and altogether she has been away from Great Britain 18 months. Cargo (flour) was discharged at Liverpool, and the ship then went to Glasgow during the School 'holidays. There she has loaded general cargo for the Persian Gulf. Mr. Greenough, the Second Officer, has sent us an account of a passage made by the "Mountpark" from Sydney to Malaya in November, 1948, using the route inside the Great Barrier Reef. We print an extract below : "Our pilot joined us in Sydney, and we sailed from there on 5th November. Far the first three days the weather was rather unkind, and we experienced strong northerly winds with an accompanying 29
