The Globe. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 966, 31 July 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1877.

The Hon. C. C. Bowen must be congratulated upon the new Education Bill which he has introduced into the House. He has succeeded in framing a measure whose main features meet with very general acceptance throughout the colony. As a summary of the Bill has already appeared in our columns, it is not our intention in this article to give another resume of its provisions. It is to the religious clauses that we wish to refer. The new Bill proposes that the schools shall be opened every morning with the reading of the Lord's Prayer, and a portion of the Bible without comment, but no child is required to attend whose parents or guardians object. If the rival advocates of a purely secular, and the friends of a purely denominational, system are satisfied with this compromise, then the Hon. C. C. Bowen may well congratulate himself on the skill with which ho has framed his measure. In Otago we observe that there is every prospect of a favourable reception being given to it. At a conference of clergymen held in Dunedin yesterday afternoon, a resoulution in favour of the Government measure, was carried by a large majority. If the clergy are willing to accept the religions clauses of the Bill, as satisfactory, there ought to be no difficulty with the friends of a secular system. There are, no doubt, a few in the community who would oppose the giving of religious instruction in schools on principle alone. But their number must be very small. It is the practical difficulty which has made the great majority of the public secularists. The different denominations have never yet agreed amongst themselves uii the question, and till they do so it is vain for the State to attempt it. The great majority of those who oppose religious instruction in schools are not opposed to it in itself —perhaps they are deeply impressed with its supreme

importance but they are influenced by the fear that, if the question is once raised, an unseemly struggle will result, which may end in the entire destruction of a national system. Nearly every one of these colonies has witnessed, at one time or another, such party fights. We hope avc are not entering upon a similar struggle. The (•'act that our polemical friends in Otago have accepted the measure so quietly, is certainly a good omen. We hope their example will be followed by the clergy in the other provinces.

Ouk article of a few days back respecting the preliminary meetings of the City Council in re the Municipal conference, appears somewhat to have fluttered the civic dove-cot. Now when the conference is on the eve of meeting, the members wish the proceedings made public, thus admitting the premisses upon which we founded our remarks, to be true, despite the energetic protest of one councillor. We are somewhat at a loss to account for the attack made upon the representatives of the newspapers, after the emphatic statement of the Mayor that he had told the reporters that the meetings were strictly private. There was no other course for them to pursue, but to leave the chamber. If that is not stopping publicity, we are at a loss to know what is. It is somewhat strange that the anxiety to allow the reporters to take extracts from the minutes only developed itself after the article appeared in this journal which seems to have so upset the equanimity of the City Council. They cannot get away from the plain fact that the meetings were held, at which subjects of grave importance to the ratepayers were discussed, and that the representatives of the public were deliberately excluded by the Mayor informing them that the proceedings were private. This has not been denied, nor could it be, and this is all we stated. Thus the statements made by us not being confuted, our position is unaltered, and Cr. Hobbs attends the conference of delegates, simply representing the very irascible gentlemen forming the City Council, and not the ratepayers. It has often been said that there is an antidote for every bane, and so it is in this case. We learn on very good authority that his Worship does us the honor to give the Council the benefit of the various articles appearing in the Globe, in the form of a resume, in his fortnightly statement. For some time past we had admired the force of reasoning and profundity of wisdom perceivable in tiiese speeches from the civic throne, little suspecting the real source of inspiration. As such good results have followed, we commend the example of his Worship to Councillors Turner and Hawkes, feeling sure that a steady course of reading of the articles in the Globe will conduce alike to their individual benefit, and that of the ratepayers at large.