TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3215, 19 October 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1881.

One of the points insisted upon by the Liberals of this colony is the maintenance of the educational Bystem as it at present exists, namely, free and secular. Bat it is one of the leading features of liberal programmes that means are ignored, while the ends are demanded. It does not appear to be within the rtile of a liberal politician to point to the means that may secure the desired ends. The leaders of the Liberal party have hitherto contented themselves with crying for what they want, paying no attention to the manner in which they can obtain it. As a child whiniDg to its poverty-stricken mother for the sweets in a confectioner's shop, so is the cry for free education by the peode of a colony the Government of which is too poor to grant their wishes. How the present system of education is to be maintained is just now puzzling every one of the Education Boards in the colony. The free education of the rising generation implies the expenditure of money, and that money must in one form or another come out of the pockets of the people. Education up to a certain standard may justly be regarded as a right of the people to demand of the State ; but, carried as far as it is being carried in this colony, it becomes a luxury which those who enjoy it should be called upon to pay. The system in force in New Zealand possesses little enough to recommend its continuance. It is partial in its operation, it is needlessly expensive in its administration, and it is beyond the means of the colony to support. But with all its glaring faults the Liberals insist upon its maintenance with a blind persistency that refuses to see in what way it can be amended so that it can be maintained. As it at present exists it is breaking down with its own

cumbrous corpulency. In this district alone a sum exceeding ten thousand pounds sterling is required to meet the demands of the schools for the ensuing twelve months, but less than four thousand pounds is all that is available. The position of the Board, under circumstances as these, was aptly compared by Mr Tanner to that of the children of Israel who were called upon to make bricks without straw. The question is, how is the deficit of £'6000 to be made up in order that the Education Act can be continued in operation within this district ? To the face of want of funds it is absurd to demand the continuance of the educational system, for the existence of the sj stein depends upon money, and money does not appear to be forthcoming. Mr Ormond very properly puts the blame on the Government for the state of things that now exists in this disfvlcf. Tt was certainly the duty of the Minister of Edacation to have made himself acquainted with the requirements of each district, and on that basis to have allocated the Parliamentary grant. In the place of any intelligence being shown in this matter by the central authorities, the allocation of the money has been made according to a "rule of thumb"—on a population basis. It is difficult to discover why Buch an arrangement was resolved upon unless it was to save bother, and avoid offending the large centres of population. It is ridiculous to say that a system is worth maintaining which will give where nothing is wauted, and withhold where absolute necessities are required. Under such a system the educational wants of the country cannot be supplied, nor will they ever be until the central department can give a better reason for its existence than what is now apparent. It might have been thought that that department had something better to do than to busy itself over foolish returns of the marks gained by children in reading and spelling; such trivial work as this should be left with the School Committees and District Boards, for it merely furnishes an index of the schoolmaster's industry, and has nothing to do with the central authorities. But it is in the pottering over petty details where this great department shines, while the real business of the system is so far neglected that the scheme, as we see in this district, threatens to come to a standstill for want of attention. The slightest consideration would have shown the department that the allocation of the grant on a population basis could not possibly supply the demands of the several districts, and it was the duty of the department to have instructed the Minister to that effect. But in all probability the department knows as much of the requirements of districts as it does of the educational wants of the convicts in Siberia; and while it could furnish returns of the slate pencils used in all the schools, it might be densely ignorant concerning everything relating to school buildings and teachers' residences. About the worst thing that can happen to this colony is the maintenance of the system as it exists at the present time, and for a political party to decry interference with it is to show that they know nothing of the wants of the country or the evils of an excellent scheme rendered rotten and nugatory through want of intelligence in its administration.