FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2599, 16 June 1871, Page 2

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1871.

I» Bishop Moran's letter, vrhich ap peared in our columns yesterday, he says, in speaking of the High School, u I arrired at my conclusion as to the M class of hoys, educated there from the “ programme of studies—Lathi* Greek,

‘W 7 w “ science, Ger•tsJjlii, j music ’ 4 raw * “ ing. /Suirdly ; thiais net the ordinary <• education intended for poor people I” Had he shid£ “ Surely this kind of “ education Could not be obtained by “ poor people unless'it were paid for “ liberally by the Government,” he would have accurately indicated the real state of the case. A High School, Collegiate School, College, call it what one will, is necessarily a very expensive institution. In Australia the ordinary fee for day scholars at such schools is about five guineas per quarter. In the English upper schools it is still higher. On the whole we shall • not err if we say that each scholar educated in these schools costs £2O a-year. Now, as nearly as we can calculate it, the total cost of the High School for the current year will be about £2,350; that is, without reckoning the interest dn the cost of buildings (as Dr. Moran jocularly suggests we ought to do,) for if we did so it would be ‘‘ fair and just ” to make a corresponding addition to the cost of education in the case of schools outside of the Province. Prom this sum, however, must be deducted the annual value of the services rendered by the masters of the High School to the Girls’ Provincial School. This would probably be about £SOO : we thus have £1,850 as the total cost of the school for the current year. Now, if this sum be divided by 125, the number of boys, as we believe, at present attending the school we shall have something between £l4 and £ls per head as the average total cost of educating each of the. boys attending the High School. It thus appeal’s that the High School is less expensive than the schools of the same kind in Australia and in England. But be that as it may, the statistics given by the Rector of the High School, in his letter to our journal, seems to show that only a small proportion of the boys at the school arc the sons of parents who could uftord to pay a larger fee than the one at present charged—£2 per quarter. We may therefore,fairly assume that very many boys have now the opportunity of receiving a liberal education, who would otherwise have to be sent into the world f< unanointed, unaneled, with M all their imperfections on their « heads.” Then again, ihftre jg a still more important class of boys who sre provided for by the High School by means of the free education regulations. An examination is held annually for the purpose of selecting the best boys in the Province as Provincial scholars. At the examinations many boys distinguish themselves greatly, but fail to gain the scholarships: to these are granted free education at the High School for periods of two, three, or four years. It seems to us that the Government could not spend its money to better purpose than In affording to such boys the'-best education obtainable, There can be no doubt that the future greatness of the Province depends very much indeed on the sort of mental culture which these boys attain to, as they are evidently to be the leading men of Otago in future years. In fact it appears certain that with these appliances for bringing to the front, getting hold of, and training all boys possessed of genius, the existence of l! a mute, inglorious Miltox,” will he simply an impossibility In Otago. The money spent by the Government; on the High School, therefore, is well spent, as it enables those boys who are capable of receiving a high-class education to get it, when iu the vast majority of cases such boys would have to remain with their best powers undeveloped, to the serious detriment of the whole community. In short, the money is expended on “reproductive works” of the highest class. If a few parents who could well afford to bear the whole expense of their sons' education are thereby enabled to get them educated for very little, this is but a trifle when compared iyith the benefits to be derived from the scheme by the people at large. As wo have often remarked before, the object of the State in urn dertaking the education of the people at all, is not _ that Mr. Smith or Mr. Rosies should be made to pay £5, or £lo,’or £SO towards his son’s education, but that as large a number as possible of its youthful members should receive the highest mental and moral culture of which they are capable, so that they may be of the greatest possible benefit to the community. There is one part of our system which will undoubtedly he what Dr Moban says the whole of it is, very expensive—we mean the Uni , vemty; but even that we do not con-’ aider too expensive. We believe it will be worth all it may cost—not only as being an institution for completing the education of our cleverest men, but as an available means for testing the work don© in the High School and other schools; and generally, as a standard of reference in all educational I matters. Oiir Provincial Councils have always held large and liberal views On

matters connected with education; and we believe that they never did a more liberal thing than . establishing the University. Knowing as they did that probably a century would have to elapse before that institution could attain to the size of any of the Home Universities, and that, in the nature of things, for many years each student would probably cost £2OO, they yet manfully determined to found the University and complete our educational system.