SECONDARY EDUCATION AND NATIONAL INSURANCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3668, 17 April 1883, Page 3

SECONDARY EDUCATION AND NATIONAL INSURANCE.

TniAiiv, This day. Major Atkinson addressed a. crowded meeting in the Theatre Royal last evening. He spoke for an hour and a half on pauperism, and at the conclusion, received a hearty vote of thanks. DrxKDix, This day. Mr 11. S. Fish, M.H.R , addressed a meeting of citizens hist night on secondary education and educational insurance. He spoke for two hours. He strongly opposed the present system of secondary schools as too expensive, and argued that secondary education should lie in private hands, or that the schools should be free, but only to be entered after passing a suitable examination. Major Atkinson's national insurance scheme lie criticised in detail, showing by illustrations how hard the payments would fall on the various classes, from laboring men and artizans to civil servants and lawyers, etc., who, with families of (say) five! would find the contributions a serious drain. He also referred to the case of a settler whose family worked with him, and so forth, in illustration of the bad effects of the scheme. He further contended that one result would be to wipe the friendly societies off the face of the earth, as far as this colony was concerned. At the close of the meeting Mr Stout replied to Mr Fish on the secondary education question. —— -.