THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 630, 1 February 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1870.

About twelve months ago it was resolved, with a grand flourish of trumpets, that a National System of Education was to be established in Westland, School .Committees nominated, and liberal promises j^&de that the erection of National Schools be freely subsidised by the Board of Education, A sum of £2000 was voted for the first half-year of 1869, and a similar sum for the next half-year, to be spent by the Education Board. But of these amounts the Board received nothing, and the County Chairman allowed them, very conveniently, to "lapse." The consequence is that the education of the young has been seriously retarded by the waste of so much valuable time, that the Board of ' Education and the local School Committees are disorganised, and a general feeling of disgust prevails, that after so much trouble had been taken, and so many public meetings held, nothing whatever should be done. The worst of the matter is that there is very little hope of any improvement taking place, atleast during the current six months. The total amount set down on the Estimates for educational purposes throughout the whole of the County is .£IOOO, a sum quite inadequate to its requirements, even supposing that it is spent, which is not at all likely, so long as Mr Hoos has the power to withhold it. We may be doing him an unintentional injustice, but he has so frequently caused these votes to lapse, that we expect he will do so again. Besides, it is a mere farce to imagine that a system of National Education could be successfully inaugurated throughout the County on £1000, and we take this as another evidence of the ultimate destiny of the vote. But we expect that as the present unsatisfactory system must continue, a proportion of the sum voted will be distributed among the schools now in existence, and if so, it is to be hoped that a much more liberal view of the claims of others, as well as the present participants, will be taken by the Board this year than was last. We notice when the vote was brought forward Mr Lahman moved that it be reduced to ,£SOO, on the ground that the schools mi»ht then receive the amount voted} which was not at all likely to be the case, -it- £IOOO were voted. Our member no doubt had some sufficient reason for, his amendment, and it will probably turn out that he was right, although he was not supported by the other members of the Council. The most practical speech made during the debate was that of Mr Robinson, one of the new members, in which he said — " He could not see the utility of voting sums of money for any particular purpose, when it was in the power of the Chairman to divert the amount voted, just as he pleased. He would refer to the answer given by the Chairman to the question he (Mr Robinson) had put as to the payment to the Road Boards of the amount voted from the sales of land. The Council had voted that the Road Boards should receive fifty per csnt. of the proceeds of the land sales. The lands had been sold on that understadning, and yet the Chairman had devoted the fund to other purposes than those to which it should have been applied by the vote of the Council. The principle, if it applied to Road Boards, would apply . also to education and other matters upon which other votes were taken." We entirely coincide with these views, which we have frequently expressed, and asked the Council to consider before going any further with the farce of placing sums on the Estimates for all imaginary purposes, and leading the people to believe that they will bo so spent, while all the time Mr Hoos quietly laughs in his sleeve, and allows the votes to lapse. If we are to have a system of education in Westland, which cannot bo supported out of the general revenue of the County, the Council should look at the question honestly and say so, instead of tinkering away at it as at present, and let the people know that a national system, or a thoroughly organised system of any kind, can only be supported here by direct taxation, as iu.Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson. We know that in Otago and Nelson that system works well ; the tax ia very light, while the educational benefits derived by the children are incalculable. Of course, this compulsory taxation system is open to serious objections, especially in a country populated such as Westland is, but the quostion is well worthy the consideration of the County Council, and we hope to see it debated ere the present session closes.