Leidsch Dagblad
- Mathesianen Association.
- Institute for Workers’ Education.
- THE GENERAL SITUATION.
Music runs through the Leiden reports: the Mathesianen celebrated their ninth anniversary with an orchestra and communal singing, while a workers’ education meeting paired recruitment with a warmly applauded Tartini performance. Its chairman described growing membership but regretted the empty seats in a larger hall. The international report covers the League of Nations Assembly’s adoption of a slavery convention and its discussions of settlement, employment and wider assistance for refugees.
Translation
Mathesianen Association.
Dr N. C. de Gijselaar, LL.M., and the curator of the Physics Laboratory, Dr C. A. Crommelin, were unable to attend because of illness and family circumstances.
After the association’s orchestra had opened the evening with Fučík’s cheerful march “Salve Imperator,” the chairman, Mr Veenhuizen, warmly welcomed everyone. After briefly reviewing the association’s past year, which showed that there was every reason to celebrate its ninth anniversary, he thanked everyone who had helped prepare the festive evening.
Immediately after the opening, everyone present stood and sang the Mathesianen song.
To reproduce the extensive programme here in full would take us too far.
Institute for Workers’ Education.
The fairly well-attended meeting opened shortly after 8 o’clock with a brief welcome from the chairman, Mr Jac. Tjalsma. He remarked that these meetings were generally held in the People’s Building. Membership had, however, increased considerably of late, and the committee had been unsure whether there would be enough room there. This larger hall had therefore been chosen. Yet the turnout disappointed the chairman: there were still too many empty seats for his liking.
Finally, he urged the non-members present to join the institute, which did useful work, as he went on to explain.
The musical part then began with a violin solo by Mr E. Bomli: Tartini’s Sonata in G minor. The young violinist, a former Leiden resident, played it exceptionally well and received warm applause.
THE GENERAL SITUATION.
The League of Nations Assembly held its final sitting on Saturday afternoon.
Lord Cecil reported on the international convention to combat slavery.
The earlier draft agreement had been amended in several respects during this session. Count Bonin Longare of Italy said that he would have preferred to retain the 1925 convention; nevertheless, the Italian delegation also accepted the present wording without reservation.
The Indian delegate Hoare Vincent, the Portuguese delegate d’Andrade and the Persian delegate Prince Arfa defended the convention’s wording despite some objections, and it was adopted.
The German delegate, Breitscheid, reported on questions of settlement and the provision of employment for Russian and Armenian refugees, after which De Brouckère reported on extending the measures taken for these refugees to other
Context
Technical education and association life
The connection between technical training and Leiden’s scientific institutions helps explain why a physics laboratory curator appears in this association report. A 1924–1925 account describes workers gaining practical experience in the Leiden laboratory while attending evening classes at the school founded by Mathesis Scientiarum Genitrix, including electrical engineering. The newspaper supplies the social side of this educational setting: an association orchestra, a shared song and public thanks to the organisers. The full report also lists school directors and Mathesis teachers among the guests. Together, these details show how the anniversary brought an educational community together through music and celebration.
Why workers’ education included a concert
The national institute was founded in 1924 by the Social Democratic Workers’ Party and the Netherlands Federation of Trade Unions. Its programme combined leisure activities, cultural interest and an understanding of society grounded in socialism. This makes the Tartini performance intelligible as part of workers’ education: access to music fitted the institute’s cultural purpose. The Leiden report also reveals the practical work of building participation. Tjalsma attributed the move to a larger hall to membership growth, then used the meeting to recruit newcomers despite disappointing attendance. The contrast between rising membership and empty seats suggests that enrolling members and securing their participation were separate challenges.
The slavery convention’s international obligations
The newspaper records a diplomatic compromise: Bonin Longare preferred the 1925 text but accepted the revised convention, while other delegates defended its wording despite objections. The resulting treaty made suppression an international responsibility through obligations concerning slave traffic, cooperation between states and domestic enforcement. It also allowed territorial exemptions under Article 9, which Britain invoked for Burma and British India. Those provisions show why acceptance of a common text did not mean that its application was geographically uniform. Signed on 25 September 1926, the convention entered into force on 9 March 1927; the Assembly’s action reported here therefore preceded its legal operation.
Extending refugee assistance beyond two groups
De Brouckère’s report addressed whether measures organised for Russian and Armenian refugees could serve additional groups. The Seventh Assembly’s resolution, circulated in November 1926, concerned extending protection, employment assistance and relief, and a December Council report proposed further consideration. A later arrangement in June 1928 expressly extended measures to Turkish, Assyrian, Assyro-Chaldaean and assimilated refugees. This sequence places the newspaper’s brief notice at the stage of examining a wider scope for refugee assistance; the named expansion belonged to a subsequent agreement.
Original
Vereeniging van Mathesianen.
mr. dr. N. C. de Gijselaar en de conservator
van het Natuúrkundig Laboratorium „dr. C.
A. Crommelin waren verhinderd door ongesleldheid en familieomstandigheden.
Nadat het V: v. M-orkest de avond had
ingezet met een vrolijke marsch getiteld
„Salve Imperator“ van Fucik, heette de
voorzitter, de heer Veenhuizen allen hartelijk welkom. Na een korte schels van het afgeloopen vereenigingsjaar, waaruit bleek dal
er alle reden was het Se , vereenigingsjaar
feostelijk te herdenken, bracht spreker dank
aan allen die zich bij de voorbereiding van.
den feeslavond verdienslelijk hadden ge
maakt.
Onmiddellijk na de opening werd door
alle aanwezigen slaande het Mathesianenlied aangeheven.
Het uitvoerige programma hier geheel
weer te geven zou ons fe ver voeren.
Instituut voor Arbeidsontwikkeling.
De tamelijk goed snie bijeenkomst
werd te ruim 8 uur met een kort welkomstwoord door den voorzitter, den heer Jac.
Tjalsma geopend, die daarbij opmerkte, dat
deze bijeenkomsten als regel in het Volksgebouw werden gehouden. Het ledental is
echter in.den laatsten tijd niet onaanzienlijk
vermeerderd en het bestuur was er
niet gerust op dat in het Volksgebouw plaats
genoeg zou zijn. Men had daarom deze
grootere zaal gekozen. De opkomst viel den
voorzitter echter niet mee,-er waren hem
nog te veel ledige plaatsen.
Hij wekte ten slotte de aanwezige nielleden op zich aan te sluiten bij het instituut
dat nuttig werk doet, zooals hij nader aanloonde.
Het muzikale gedeelte werd daarna ingeleid met een vioolsolo van den heer E.
Bomli, en wel met Sonate g-mol van Tartini, die door den jongen violist bijzonder
goed werd gespeeld en waarmede hij — een
oud-Leidenaar — een warm applaus oogstte.
DE ALGEMEENE TOESTAND.
De Volkenbondsvergadering heeft Zatardagmiddag de laatste zitting gehouden.
Lord Gecil bracht verslag uit over de
Thienatonale conventie tot bestrijding dar
slavernij.
Het vroegere ontwerp. der overeenkomat
was in den loop dezer zitting in enkel2 opwehten gewijzigd. Graaf Bonin Longare (lt)
betoogde, dat hij liever de conventie van
1925 zou behouden; de Italiaansche delegatie
sluit zich echter ook bij de tegenwoordige
redactie zonder voorbehoud aan.
De Inüische gedelegeerde Hoare Vincent,
de Portugeesche d'Andrade, de Perzische,
prins Arfa, verdedigden, ondanks enkele bezwaren, de ed der conventie, die
dan ook werd aan:
De Duitsche gedelegearde, Kleien:
bracht verslag uit over de vraagstukken
van de nederzetting en arbeiderersohalfing
voor Russische en Armeensche vluchtelingen,
waarna De Brouckère verslag uitbracht over
het uitstrekken der ten gunste dezer vlucktelingen getroffen Henin: tot andere
Source: Source: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken (leiden.courant.nu)