BISHOP MORAN’S ANSWER TO MR. HAWTHORNE.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2598, 15 June 1871, Page 2

BISHOP MORAN’S ANSWER TO MR. HAWTHORNE.

To the Editor, Sir, —If on the subject of education gene* rally, and in reference to the High SqhQQl ih particular, I have in my last address fallen into any mistatement or misrepresentation, I here, iu the first place, beg to withdraw both or either, aa the case maybe, and Jo apologize for it. I can do this the more readily as I took a great deal of trouble to avoid both, and it would give me much pain to feel conscious of having done either. Any one who has read your report of my last discourse must have seen at a glance that there-was a great deal of confusion in it and that I could not fairly bo held responsible for its statements iu some points of importance. It was this, conviction that withhold me from asking you next day to correct its errors. You will not, 1 hope, understand me to insinuate that your reporter is to blame iu the matter.. The confusion may have been mine, and probably was, and the mistakes may have been mud* voidable through my manner of delivery. In the main, however, and substantially your report is correct. The three points oh which Mr. Hawthorne differs from mej are the amount of cost per head for education generally, the amount of cost to the (government per head for students in the High School, and the class in society to which the pupils of the High School belong, I did state, generally, that the cost per head was about LC. Secondly, that the cast to Government of pupils in the High School was about) L3O per head ; and thirdly, that these pupils were the sons of the rich men of the Province. Mr Hawthorne differs from me iu my estimate of these three points. I entertain a great respect for Mr Hawthorne, and regret to find myself unable, oven now, to arrive at the same conclusions t&at h® does. Immediately OU reading his letter I looked again into the statistics given in the blue books, and this second investigation only convinces, me still more strongly of the truth of the statements which he controverts.

With your permission, sir, I shall here give the reasons which guided me in making my statements originally, and which guide me in repeating them here. I find, for example, that .in 1869, the Government contributed from the general 'revenue, Provincial, and land reserves, the sum of 1)13,602

13a 6d; that the fees of the common schools amounted to L 6634 8s 3d, and the fees of the High School to L 712. Then I estimated the value of public school buildings at L 20.000, which at 10 per cent., the ordinary rate of interest here, would give L 2,000, which sum it is only fair and just to charge to the annual current expense. These sums added together amount to L23.6G1 Is 9cl; and if you divide into this sum 3,£46, the average daily attendance of both the common and high schools, you will find that what I said is true —viz., that the cost per head was about L 6 sterling. You will be, so good as to bear in mind that I did not say this as the cost to the Government. On the contrary, 1 distinctly remember having said that the Government bore the greater part of this expense. Now as to the High School, 1 find that, independently of fees, the Government of the Brpvince contributed to its maintenance L 1,521 2s lOd; add to this the annual interest of L 5.000, which, in my estimate, the buildings and ground cost the publ c —I do not include in this the LI,BOO spent on the girls’ school—-the annual cost to the Government, therefore, is at least L2,02l 2s lOd. Now if you divide 70, the average attendance, into-L2,021 2s lOcl, the quotient will be about L3O. I submit that my mode of arriving at my conclusions is fair and just. As to the last point, I arrived at my conclusion as to the class of boys educated the e from the programme of studies—Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Physical Science, German, Italian, French, music, drawing. Surely this is not the ordinary education intended for poor people. I was nearly forgetting another point, and that is the estimate I made of what education at this rate would cost the entire Colony. This is a point on which there may be, legitimately, a wide difference of opinion. My estimate was formed in this way, and I am still of opinion my conclusion is not extravagant : I spoke in reference to the future, and the calculation was made subject to the con dition of increase in the population. The Otago system would presuppose the erection of numerous Common Schools, Grammar Schools, High Schools, and Provincial Univeries, endowed with 100,000 acres of laud each, in the several Provinces. Taking into account, then, the. neglectedj-state of education, as is asserted, in the other Provinces, the sparseness of the population i s these, the state of the Native races, which must be attended to equally with the Colonial, I still think the estimate of an expenditure of between L300.00U and L 500.000 is not very much beyond what reasonable men would consider probable, more particularly when it is remembered that much local aid and any great amount of fees cannot be expected for a long time to come from other Provinces. Of course, in reference to this last point, 1 take for truth what has been lately said here on this subject ? 1 am, &c., f P. Moran, Bishop of Dunedin. June 14. EEC ENT EVENTS. Or, Shakespeare improved and adapted t» modern requirements. ( To the Editor.) Sib, —As newspaper details of what is going »n occasionally pirtake of dryness, I have ventured to put into verse an account of a recent election, which I trust may be acceptable to your readers. I am, &c., Master Humphrey.

certain play that’s called Macbeth, Unfolds a tale of wonder, Of battle, murder, sudden death. And witches, ghosts, and thunder. The hero of this thrilling play, Some friends to feast invited ; And they upon th’ appointed day To come were quite delighted. With regal state the cloth is laid By servants’ nimble hands, Ami then there follows great parade Of plated cruet-stands The knives, and forks, and spoons are there, With toothpicks cut to fineness, And there’s a splendid royal chair To grace his Kingly Highness. The guests are all prepared to sup, . The cook’s most trusted fag is Just making ready to dish up The “ siugit head ” aud “ haggis.” Macbeth, with dignity, draws nigh To take his royal seat, When something horrid strikes his eye—ateggefs o» bis feet,’ For there a pallid form did rise, To his great consternation, With “ gory locks ” and livid ej'es, “ Devoid of speculation.” With bloodless lips and visage wan The phantom slowly past Amid the crowd, and sat upon The royal chair at last. The King began with" fear to quake, His reason overthrown— To see the spectre coolly take . The seat he’d deemed his own. As still the phantom sat and gazed, Macbeth, bereft of sense, With frantic gestures—arms upraised— Stamped and conjured him thence. What followed this most strange event, To know you scarce can fail; So now I’ll point, with much content, The moral of my tale. To win a seat of mighty state, • Of which he felt quite sure, A citizen aspired of late And he was Birch the Brewer. But soon his hoped-for victory, Was’ changed to dire defeat, On totting up the registry, ' George Duncan took the scab The parallel I think- is not A hard one to apply, In truth George Duncan’s always got A speculative eye. No-yv, at a very early age, When 1 was hardly ten, We acted on a mimic stage “The Miller and his Men.” In downright earnest now we’ve fought The play we acted then, And to a nobler triumph brought “The Miller and his Men.” So at the Council Chamber still Brave Duncan’s yet a pillar, For who, forsooth, in such “ a mill” . Could hope to beat the miller ?