THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 4, IS7I.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 916, 4 July 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 4, IS7I.

Probably no subject that will come before the General Assembly during the ensuing session will excite greater interest throughout the Colony than the propose Education Act. It has for some time been known that the Ministry are busy preparing a Bill dealing with the whole ques- 1 tion of education, so far as relates to State aid to schools. It is not at all too soon for this important question to be dealt with in a broad and comprehensive manner by the Colonial Legislature, for in no part of the British dominions is popular education so much neglected as in New Zealand. Some two or three Provinces have paid attention to the subject, and provided liberablly for the support of primary schools, but taking the Colony as a whole the means of Education are lamentably below the necessities of the population. In the poorer Provinces and the County of Westland there is but little chance that without other thau local aid an efficient system of Education can be established. Attempts have been made but without success, and it has now beoome a serious question for the Colony to

devise a general and comprehensive scheme applicable to the whole of New Zealand. As to this necessity there can be no two opinions, but as to the plan upon which this scheme shall be founded there must be a vast amount of diecussion and difference of thought. Those Provinces which have succeeded in establishing efficient educational machinery will naturally be jealous of any interference with their local systems, whilst those which are barren of educational appliances will be glad to see the Colony step in and deal with the question of education as a Colonial one, irrespective of Provincial distinctions. Then again will arise that great bone of contention whether or not the educational system to be adopted should be strictly secular, denominational, or somathing midway between the two. And this vexata questio will have to be considered not entirely from an abstract point of view. The opinisns, feelings— and prejudices if you will— of the people must be recognised in some extent, We personally hold to the opinion that State education should be strictly secular— that the teachings of religious dogmas and religious instruction generally should be left to other machinery. Not that religious teaching is incompatible with or any hindrance to the acquirement of secular knowledge, but because unfortunately the community is so divided in opinion as t«« what constitutes religions teaching, and what is and what is not sound doctrine. But the question is not so much what should be the narrow duty of the State. We have to consider whether the application of a strictly secular theory is the most suitable to the circumstances of a population such as that of New Zealand. We doubt if it would bo wise to attempt such a scheme. Our population is too widely scattered, and too little concentrated to allow of any cast iron scheme being equally applied with advantage. Deprived as we are of the numerous high class private schools which are to be found supplementing State education in other countries, it is impossible to ignore the claims of the religious denominations, to. whom the initiation of educational machinery in many parts of the Colony is en- j tirely due. And we must not forget that there is a very large section of the community with whom religious teaching is held to be inseparable from secular training, and whose opinions on this subject are less opinions than articles of faith. We may consider these opinions mere prejudices if we like, but we cannot get rid of the fact that in any system of popular education out of the funds of the State, we cannot fairly shut out a numerous body of the population by endeavoring to force upon them a system which they cannot conscientiously approve. We are firmly convinced that any general system of education to be satisfactory must — in this Colony at least, and for some time to come — be a compromise of some kind as has been found necessary in England. We have beer induced to make these remarks from the perusal of a recent article in the Otago Daily Times, which indicates somewhat authoritatively some of the features of the Bill now in preparation by the Government. For the information of our readers wp-wnv^ijoc^pte* ' mising that the public schools of the Colony will be placed under the control of a Minister of Education, our contemporary goes on to say : — Under him there would have to be an In-spector-General of Schools, whose duty it would be to visit the various districts and report to the Government upon the existing educational arrangements. We do not anticipate that the new Bill will provide for the disturbance of these arrangements, unless within proviuces or districts where the provisions for education are considered to be inadequate. In such cases the Bill will furnish, we believe, machinery for the establishment of schools, to be maintained by local taxation, and controlled, as in Otago, by local committees. It will be arranged, no doubt, that the Provincial Education Boards shall remain intact : but where no such bodies exist, machinery will be provided for their election, and full control over the schools within their district left in their hands. N o snch scheme, however, will prove satisfactory unless inspectors are appointed to each district, who will be entirely independent of the Boards, and -whose duty it will be along with the Inspector-General to report fperiodically to the Minister of Education. " We do not believe that any attempt will be made to interfere with the Educational Reserves of the Provinces in the Bill which is beingframed, but it is not unlikely that a section of the Assembly will do so. Mr Ball, who, in the last Parliament, took a prominent part in the debates upon education, sounded a warning note in 1868, when he suggested that Provincial endowments should be thrown into a common fund for the good of the Colony. We have every reason to believe that in the scheme which is now under the consideration of the Government, it will be provided that the funds for educational purposes at the disposal of the Provincial or District Boards will be supplemented by votes from the Colonial revenue, such amount to be an allowance probably for each child actending school within the district. Of course there will be strenuous efforts made to obtain votes of money for denominational schools. Although Mr Bichmond proposed that State aid should be given to those schools, it is exceedingly improbable that any such provision will be found in the Bill. A strong party, however, consisting of a section of English Churchmen and the Roman Catholics, will be formed in the Assembly to support the proposal. It is upon this point, as it has been the case elsewhere, that the battle will be fought ; but the denominationalists in the Assembly, although they will not lack energy, will fall short in voting power. It is far from being the duty of the State to propagate this or that dogma, which would be the effect of adopting the denominational system ; and although rhere may be a loud outcry on the part of a discontented few, to obtain Government money to aid them in fostering their religious views, still in the long run it will be found that a strictly non-sectarian measure .alone will give general satisfaction.