General Assembly.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 420, 30 July 1880, Page 3

General Assembly.

PARLIAMENTARY ITEMS. In the House oi Representatives ion Monday, Mr Hall, moved—"That foAtie mnaiiuler of tho session Government business-trtfco precedence on Wednesdays.* , Ho said they e> pooted to got through, the Estimates by Wednesday, and tho Public Works statement would be brought down next week, Government hoped that they would bo able to got through tho bnsinese by the end of August, but what were the Bills to be proceeded with'or dropped he was not then prepared to say, • but would do go on an di4.y date. • - ' Mr Murray hoped: they ' would not bo asked to go on with the Public Works Estimates until after the Public . Works ■Statement was.,brought down;, >&b Jhat course, would, be- necesaary in ordW to enable.tkeinie arrive? at. a cojfrec't cori T elusion*in re'gaird to the forking'; of tho railway's. '.' ■.'.'•.'■■' <~ .■ ■ ■'■.'<■■■ ' ■ ■■. ■ Mr Macandrew , moved aa an amendment—" That after the Order of 'tho Day ■on Wydn^egtlay , business take precedence , . ort | for . the rein.'iirjderpf l.hqifQssion.!' . ;■ The Hon.. J. Hall r&ftreed-to ftdeopt the atnenduibft]fc, ; ' l and pointed ,put, tliat the in'dtioir would involve,* large ,jampunt of discussion, thereby wasting a great deal of valuable time needlessly; They had .now arwved',at a perfo'd '61' the Wssibn they mu6t draw a line between important and unimportant business. In Coqunittee on. the Ef\fimates a discueefon took placo.on the item for Hansard. ' ' .'.' , '..'. ■'; .:.;•; ■, ~:■■■' Mr Andrews ( that it. be struck •out altogether. .. .» . Measrs Pykw and Sheohan spoke against the motion,' contendiug that aiuongst farmerß and"ihtnefs !r Had* a large and appreciative circulation, * Sir W. Fox spoke in favor of Hansard being and'jreferred to ihe English HaiisanlXo ..elioW; that members are not allowed.the.apace given to members in that House, , . Major Atkinson suggested that tho vote should be passed, and that the question of reducing the expenses should remain over until the Debating Committee's report has, been received.' ''

Mr Bowen eai<l that apart from tho copies of Harvard given away the circula- j tion w.-.s very small, and that afforded a very fair criterion of it'» value. It was a wo.ll known fact -that many men in the Ilouae simply talked to their constituents, but that was-not" tfl.lkit)g""to" th.fr o-intry. It was welF'kn'own fact tfi.it the country demanded was the speeding- of, Jon.iin;< men ; that was evidenced by the fact tlmf, new«tpupei£ only gave apace to the .leading \rus : /* l ii. t]i6 English paper* repnifod njgnibers affen«>th, it/VoiUd to carry oil t,lto business, ■ "■ ' .Tliejl'tnj.j.iftaHeii.. •-.*•' ■ 1 _ MiiicellftiiouH eervk-ee, JL'l2 !3M.—The ifein audit, of County and Koad Hoard accounts, £2700, was struck our!

. Class VUL— Minister for Education, £297,730--Mr Kolleston compared the cost of Bduciitiiin hero with ihftt ,<>f other countries.-'Tho cost in this country compared favounvbly with the relative cost in England, and it W.isalso very con <iddrably lesH thanin^some,of Ll»a other Co'loriios. lie cojuparecKthti fiinri !ai\ls, to

show thcit in.tjue, Colpny, tlu'y, ,\v;oi:o not ** more ambitious* than in , other .CuitMiioa, * Ho dqntetulfld that Niw : Zealand Was njit '** disposed td drop behind iithor place l ]i in the matter of education. ;R'a v recognised that economy won necessary, ami that it* was quite possible thfei ihc .expense did not iiic*eftse,iy(proportion to the i increafie of attendance* lv the last thrco years there had been an increase of 8000 of annual He'would ask the Comuiittea to , agrde to -a reduction of m £32,000, an^^oulfl'assure thanrt that these reductions woujd:,fae made'in a direction which would uot ; impair thd' general efficiency;; -A would bo made m on the -allowance to local. Qontiiiiittees. It ■was also proposed to orbit public libraries, which he, be provided for by individual.Rxortio'ita' Mr ■'Tvj'CJiMighavi ihaiafahic'cJ *fl»e country' could tlia present- extrav^a«l:'|ft?j^ ! woiild.be wise on this v()to. ITy, tlxqugiif tlia compulsory clauses Should v<s.t;tiroo'vfcd\ and ( ix people thought Mit to swnfl "ttiieir school and pay the .toes, w.'li.nmi fro.o'J ; . if not let them stay r.t ho! Me.- lie proposed to m reduce the.vov.: by,£50.000. ■■. <---' Mr. Johnstor: fJid' not tlt ; ni; that the results were comtvionhrtvate wittvtho cost. Hβ would, a~ Lv α-i he covild, reduce evory item which couMposfiiDlj , titand a reduction. ' : ..--.-

Mr GiaUorne said'tli.it tho system they were ruining «t was far too .high, and if they went on as thoy wero going the sys- * tern would break down. ThoStitP. hod-no right to absorb the whole svatom of Education ; it had a ri;:ht to .my tln.t every child, where the pnivmt.i wer<3 not ablo to pay for itu ediiCi'ition. should roi.X'l vu an "lctncntaiy triiinin;; , but it thy attempted more tljoy would hay; to talus the whole eystom into their huiuls-. Tiiuio were people in every district who v/ero v/ell able to .Jf» V a y r *' ie ' r cdncati»n. r - nri >" et tile y vere tnkir.g <A &.h fjvo f ;>';•. to in ; the rofiilt wa.' they worn fiducat) o ' people to depend upon the fsiuit; ior liir-ij , 'mlucji- .* -.tiors. anrf if tlii.t 't.■:•■•? ,r.rnul to its

extreme 'result?, then, , s as a matter of fac it was bound to break down.

Mr jPyko| c|araqjterised) tl\e .present system of education as only benefiting tljo wealthy and residents in large towna. 110 the community $ wei-o r anxious to pay fees,ijmd jthnt'a Quarter.of a million a year was being wastod in giving people what they ..did not want. wjiola votq" should fo aitncii out. Mr Montgomery " trnderstood that £32,000 would "be saved by the various ■ Education Boards exercising igreater economy; arid lessening high salaries ; not that the School Committee* Were to be all crippled. (Mr Bollostoh : Hear hear.j) Hβ thought the education vote was about the last one winch shoujd,be str s uck oqt The pre'serit system was a most valuable one. He hoped nbtniake any distinction between*rich "and pooV. They had been told that Qtago paid sfor the children of the poor., ,Hej deprecated that aa tending to class and he would wish to see it obviated. He reigr'otted Very nitich that tho Minister for Education 'had advocated' reducing the vote. 'Ho trusted .the House would recognise the fact4hat i teach§rß i( sh f puld*bo men. of superior attainments, and such being the, case, jt was necessaay they should be well paid.' He believed, however, that a reduction * oould be made {in (heihigheY paid'class of teachers.' There were now 75,568 children being educated; expenses might be saved in School Boards.; Mr $6wen ■ there wrt's tio ' desire to crush out private'jSchools; as a matter o£ fact dial had not been the case, ..!'' w , aß satisfactory to find that despite the fact, they had all the disadvantages of .contending with what was the establishment of a" new system,',the cost had not pro-' coeded at great length. " , i Mr Turnbull thought the reductions could be, effected,'without imparing the efficiency of tho system. -He com-s plained that the system was not compul--sory, asserting thaT'until it was made compulsory its tendencies were to create class distinction,' and not as had been asserted, a fusion of the masses. Then again, he looked upon the system as being extremely oppressive as regarded the Roman Catholic denomination. Mr Saunders said tho idea was to make

Bcliqol,.teaching, acceptable to all classes j of the community. , He trusted that a 1 narrow sectarian view would never be tolerated. • If it was necessary he would' pay put a duty on tea and sugar, but do' not let the system of education euffer. It was of fa/ iinoro; importance than the central system of railways ; but if they were not going to educate their children, then he would cay it iwas far better to suspend the pofifical system of ffoe insti-' tutions. Ah a,iuattcr ( <jf policy it was of the groa'test importance that in pioviding - for education they eho'uhl confine their ondoiivois to proliiiiinary cdwntum.; they did more hanti thin good in attempting to interfere with "the" higher branches of education, lie hoped they would feel it thuir duly to keep n\\& Hyntem of national education, find do nothing to educate the children of the rich at the expense of the pcwir. At I a.m. progrcßS was leported, and the House rose. On Tuesday in the Council the amount epotit fur Education calne up for discupbion. The lion F. Whitaker read some tables of'fiirure.s tp bhow that the cost for' Education here was less than in the Australian Goloniprf, arid- compared' favorably' even with England, being £3 19s 1 per year per child here, and, £2 Is at Home. The total cost of education last year was not £467,000 as, had been,said, for from that sum must be deducted £172,000 for new buildings, and also refunds, money .spent on librnrius, &c, which .reduced the cost to £237,000. Still that was a very large sum which it was desirable to reduce if possible. : Colonel Whitmore said the question was not how our cost compared with the cost in Australia, but could we afford what we have spent ? Tho Boards were extremely extravagant, and always would be whilo they had had only tho spending of the money, and not the raising of it. The Hon 11. J. Miller said that while the system lasted of giving the Boards whatever they abked for ? they would find a way to spend it somehow ox another. He thought tho Boards might be abolished; we were spending nearly a- quarter of our ordinary revenuo on education, and the system could no longer continue.

In tho House of-Representatives,'reply-ing to Mr Lundon , Major Atkinson tsaid that the use of Colonial coal was bo r.apidly superseding tliat of the imported article, that GoVornrnent did 5 not think i necessary to impose a tax on the latter. .In Committee of Supply the debate on the proposed reduction ] of the Education vote vas resumed. After further discussion, Mr M'Caughan withdrew his original motion, and proposed. that the vote he reduced by £64,000 On thi.-* the Committee divided—Ayes 15, Noes 58, ■ The motion' for reduction by £30,000 was then put and carried on the voices. Resident 'Magistrates' and Wardens' Courts, 4a. ?,ir KoJieston said this was a Department in which Government-proposed to effect a saving, lie suggested that it be roduced by £1000. The vote, ns agreed to.

Progress was reported, and the House rose at 12.30 a.m.

On Wednesday, in Committee of Supply on the vote:'for, volunteer*—£4:2,64o 3s 9d,c coming on for consideration, Mr Bryce (••aid Government proposoi to pay six months' capitation allowance to tho Volunteer Corps, because it would be* unfair to reduce it abruptly, as umny of these Corps had entered into contract* for clothing! etc. The amount of reduction which X Jlild* be eflected. in that way would: represent £9000. In future capitation would only be paid to corps north of the Waitara on the West Coast, in the Waikato, at tho Thames, and probably at Gisborne en the East Coast. ; Hq moved that the

vote be passed, subject to the reduction mentioned.

After considerable discussion, the vote wae reduced, as propose! by Mr Brycei who then agreed to the House dividing on Mr Hurst's motion—" That—the—vote—be further reduced by the snm of £1500, the amount payable to the New Zealand Rifle TiAyes 42, 15. ,tfhe item was struck out, and the vote, as reduced, was agreed to.■; < ; ; /: