THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1972, 31 August 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1869.

The High School fee is undoubtedly much too high. It is so because it goes far to defeat the object for which that institution was established. The intention of the Provincial Council in founding the High School was to afford an opportunity to those parents who wished to do so, of giving their sons a sound and liberal education of a higher character than that which a primary school could be expected to furnish ; to make it in short a finishing establishment for promising boys from the District Schools. This it has never been as yet. It is a good school, we be-

lieve. Great care has been taken to get highly qualified masters. No expense has been spared in providing the appliances which modern advances in educational science demand. Indeed, all the elements likely to ensure success are there except one : as long as the fee demanded is so high as to act virtually as if it were an intentional prohibition to the great majority of boys attending the District Schools, so long will it be useless to expect eithei that the best boys in the Province will enter the Pligh School, or that that institution will be as numerously attended as it ought to be. It may be answered that it is only right that parents should pay some considerable portion of the cost of the education of their sons: that if they wish them to have an expensive training they should themselves bear a large portion of the expense. But we maintain that the object at which the Government should aim is not to make Mr Smith and Mr Jones pay such and such a sum for the education of their sons; not to get in so many ten pounds per annum ) but to get as many as possible of those of the rising generation thoroughly educated as are likely to be clever and useful men. It is on this ground alone that the interference of Government in matters connected with the higher education can be defended at all. It is the fact that if the Government did not take in hand to provide a first-class school for the inhabitants of the Province, the existence of such school would be an impossibility. That justifies their having anything to do in the matter. If a first-class grammar school, sufficient for the wants of all, could be established by private enterprise, and could be adequately supported,—in short, could be made to pay,—without the assistance of the Government, surely it would then be no more needful that the Government should keep a school, than that it should have a farm or a grocer’s shop. As the matter stands at present, a considerable number of pupils o at thej High School are the sons of persons who are well able to pay not only £lO but £2O or £25 per annum, the sum usually charged at schools of a similar class at Home. It is true that there are many sons of poorer persons who, most praiseworthily, make the effort necessary to keep them at the school; but we believe that if the truth were known it would be found that in the majority of cases those are fi helped “ who could best help themselves.” Of

course it is only right that a rich man should be allowed to avail himself of the, opportunity offered by the State of giving his sons the best kind of education ; at the same time, it is the poor man that should be assisted by every possible means in his endeavor to give a liberal training to any clever sons he may have. Assuming then that the thing to be aimed at is to place the High School within the reach of all, and to spread the benefits derivable from it as widely as possible, we propose some such a plan as the following ; Let the fee be reduced from £lO per annum to £1 a quarter. There ai’e few who could not afford to pay such a sum. At present we believe there are about seventy boys in attendance at the school. At £lO per annum these should bring in £7OO a year. With the fee reduced to £4, it might be fairly calculated that a practically unlimited number of scholars might be entered. But the number should be limited—say to 140, These would pay, at the lower rate, £560 per annum. The present staff of masters, we believe, could teach that number ; or possibly a junior master, at £2OO or £250 per annum, might be required. Even supposing this to be the case, it appears that for the sum of £4OO per annum seventy additional boys might be taught, and thus the benefits rendered to the State by the school would be doubled. This plan may be for some reason objectionable, but for what it is difficult to say. A certain staff has to be kept up if the institution is to have the character of a Grammar School at all. To make as ranch beneficial use of this staff as possible, it is only necessary to get a certain number of boys to attend the school. These, it would appear, can be had for the asking ; and, with the expenditure of the comparatively insignificant sum of £4OO per annum, where is the difficulty t

The tenth report of the Postal Service of New Zealand, although short, has added to it a number of statistical tables, which are valuable as tending to prove that, notwithstanding the depression that has prevailed in the Colony during the past twelve months, the bulk of the population has been advancing in material prosperity. On a comparison of two years, there has not been much alteration in the amount of correspondence. In 1867 the number of letters despatched was 2,402,009 ; while in 1868 it had risen to 2.603,077 ; but against this the letters received only numbered 2,374,122 in 1868, against 2,408,331 in 1867. Of newspapers 1,376,31(> were despatched in

1868, against 1,390,368 in 1867 ; while those received in 1868 presented a large excess, being 1,907,369 against 1,670,520 in 1867. Turning to the table showing the revenue derived from each of the Provinces, the aggregate amount is £57,107 14s, of which the North Island contributed £23,369 13s Bd, and the Middle Island £33,708 15s 10d. The Chatham Islands make up the difference, £29 -4s 6d. Otago stands at the head, and Wellington next, as will be seen by the following*analysis ; Auckland, £8,754 16s 7d • Taranaki, £645 12s2d;HawkesBay,£l,390 os4d; Wellington, £12,579 4s 7d; Nelson, £3,651 12s 8d ; Marlborough, £1,048 2s 2d ; Canterbury, £8,525 10s 4d ; Otago, £13,605 12s 3d; Southland, £2,106 Is 6d; Westland,£4,77l 7s lid; Chatham Islands, £29 4s 6d. We presume the high standing of Wellington is owing to its being the seat of Government. In the Money Order department the total number issued during the year 1868 was 25,854, representing the sum of £118,211 3s Bd. This was somewhat in excess of the issue of the previous year, which was 24,473, representing £115,610 13s, The money orders paid in 1868 were 14,598, amounting to £67,536 12s 6d, and in 1867 they numbered 12,659, and amounted to £61,151 6s 9d. The largest amounts issued were upon New Zealand offices, and next on offices in Great Britain, The first represented £54,342 18s 6d—the latter £40,581 13s 9d, Taking the business transacted in the Post Offie Savings Bank as a test of the progress of the different Provinces, Otago takes the lead by far over all except the West Coast. We need not encumber this sketch of, the report with details interesting only to the statistician, but shall content ourselves with an enumeration of the balances due to depositors at the close of the year, in the order in which they appear; —Auckland, £6,464 5s lOd; New Plymouth, £3,004 11s 9d; ;Hawkes Bay, £949 19s Od; Wellington, £5,213 17s 6d; Marlborough, £1,573 10s 7d; Nelson, £1,054 9s-3d; West Coast, £23,053 17s Id; Canterbury, £19,056 9s 8d ; Otago, £23,(90 3s 7d ; Southland, £3,807 Is 2d. There are many other interesting and some curious details with which we may be enabled to deal on a future occasion.