The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 925, 12 June 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1877.

Wk regret that the lion. C. C. Bowen is nimble to comply with the request of a number of his constituents to address them during Ins present visit to Canterbury. There are one or two questions of considerable public interest upon which we should have some information before Parliament meets. The most important is that of education. The legislation of last session has rendered the introduction of an Education Bill an almost absolute necessity. There is at present no approach to uniformity in the systems prevailing in the different provincial districts, and we are afraid there is little unanimity of opinion as to the form which the colonial system shall take. There is all the more reason therefore why the chief features-of the proposed Bill should he widely and generally known. The people have a right to inquire what changes it is proposed to introduce. This is an admitted necessity when any great political change is contemplated, and how much more is this the case when Ihe subject to be deal! with is the education of the children of the colony. Upon the legislation on this question depends, to a large extent, the future welfare of the country. The fullest public discussion of the proposed Bill should he encouraged. We cannot year after year tinker and patch up measures relating to education. Constant changes in the mode of its administration would be most hurtful to our best interests, and it should therefore be the aim of the colony to adopt at once a system sufficient to meet our requirements for many years to come. The Government, in introducing the new measure should take every means of ascertaining the public feeling upon its main features, before bringing in the Bill. If it is introduced and carried through the House with but brief interval for public discussion, it may loose the hearty sympathy and approval of the people of the colony, and therefore fail to do the good intended. Under these circumstances, we hope the Government will lose no time in putting their scheme before the public, and no better opportunity could have been found than the present one, when the Hon. 0. C. Bowen is in Christchurch. The bill is, so far as we can learn, in his hands. That gentleman was at one time Chairman of our Board of Education, and held views upon the subject of education which met with the approval of the majority of the Canterbury public. Therefore, no revolutionary changes may be looked for, as far as Canterbury is concerned. But it is nevertheless necessary that the colony should be made acquainted with Ids views on the question, before Parliament meets. Instead, therefore,of avoidingpublicity, as they appear to do, Ministers should rather court it. As far as party measures are concerned, no great harm may result from concealment, but an Education Bill should not be made a party measure; and, in refusing to take the public into their confidence on the question, Ministers are doing a great wrong to the country. We hope it is not yet too late to avoid making this blunder. If the Hon. C. C. Bowen could only spare a few hours from his arduous duties, to devote to the interests of his constituents and the colony at large, the sacrifice would no doubt be warmly appreciated.

Many of the loading English journals devote a certain portion of their space to the doings of Royalty. We presume, as this custom has held good for so long, that there must he a certain class of readers to whom the information, that her Majesty drove for two hours, or that the X b rineess Louise walked in the garden, is a subject of all-absorbing interest. The journals of these colonies, it is to he regretted,

rarely have a chance of following the example set hy their English contemporaries. Such an opportunity has, however, occurred during the last few days, and it is indeed pleasing to see how eagerly the ly Helton Times has taken advantage of it. Thanks to its loyalty, its readers were in a position to judge, through its columns, of his Excellency’s doings at the Mayor’s lunch. This morning we have a faithful chronicle of the citizens’hall last evening—a chronicle which, for minuteness of particulars, could not he excelled hy old Pcpys himself. It is to ho regretted, however, that, owing no doubt to the fact that “vice-regal” revels are of rare occurrence here, some of the particulars are not given with that correctness for which Court Circulars are usually distinguished. Either during his brief stay Ids Excellency has conferred a number of new titles, or else our contemporary was determined to make the first “sot” which he so graphically describes, consist almost entirely of Honorable Men, and — Ladies. Thus we hear of the lion. Mrs. Richardson, the lion. Mrs. Stafford, and learn, for the first time, that a lady has been promoted to the Judicial Bench. After this, as our contemporary truly observes, his "Worship the Mayor and City Council generally, must have felt themselves fully repaid for their exertions in promoting so enjoyable a “ re-union.”