THE EDUCATION QUESTION AND MR. STAFFORD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1780, 20 April 1874, Page 2

THE EDUCATION QUESTION AND MR. STAFFORD.

Mr Thomas Tancred, the Chancellor of the New Zealand University, has addressed the following letter to a Canter- : bury paper upon Mr Stafford's speech 7m Education : — '.•';,' "THE EDUCATION QUESTION AND MR; STAFFORD. ~ "TO THE EDITOR OF THE LY.TTELTON TIMES. "Sir, — In most of the addrasses of candidates at the present elections, notably in the speech of the first Minister of the Executive at Lincoln, as well as in your own leading articles, statistics are appealed to by which it is indubitably established that the present Education Ordinance, has greatly increased school attendance in this province. So far so good. But, starting from this undeniable fact, the speakers and writers appear, by some curious mental process to have persuaded themselves' and others ., that it is the exclusion of the element .', of denominational religious • teaching, under the present fashionable system, which causes the increase of the numbers of children at school. But as lam not likely to be called upon to express my opinions on this subject verbally in public, yon will allow me to point out that the logic on which the above conclusion rests is utterly unsound . It is a complete instance of 11011 sequitur. , It .must have struck the eminent men who are- fond of triumphantly brandishing these, statistics, as if they had utterly demolished thereby the i ' denominationalists ;' ■' (what an odious word !) that after all they have proved nothing of the sort; that, it is not the denominational teaching ' in the one system, or its absence on- the .other, which at all affects the result. The slightest re- < flection tells lis that the effect results from a very different cause, viz. :— the comparative power of the purse! It is the 1 ' sinews of war' which the power of raising educational . rates from the whole ofthe population supplies, which is the real element of success, so far as mere numbers area.test of success in the present system. There is no reason in the nature of things, why, if denominational schools enjoyed by law the same advantages— •' state endowment, large educational reserves, the rating power, a' Board of Education, inspector", teachers trained in splendid Normal schools at the public expense, scholarships, &c, there, is no reason, I say, why the result, as tested by numbers, should not be quite equal, whether particular religious tenets were included or excluded from the subjects taught, whilst the real success in: training up men and women of character, and endowed with true ' wisdom,' might be very different ! " The only wonder to me is that the former unendowed voluntary system, dependent chiefly on Christian philanthropy, love, and fellow-feeling for those in the fellowship of the Gospel, should have been euabled to effect so much as it did. It shows the great power which is neglected, despised, and discouraged by the present system, but to which— l may just remind our modern enthusiasts — we owe our splendid universities and public schools, which, more than any other institutions,. excepting our Church, are, I believe, generally allowed to have impressed valuable characteristics on our country, and to have made our nation worthy of the, place she occupies amidst the communities of the world. "Now, Mr Stafford, as I understand him, proposes, and thinks he sees the way, to combine the advantages of the late system and of the present one, not at all, as you put it in your leaders— to return to the old system pur et simple. No, he proposes to endow the denominational schools with the rating powers and air the advantages of the present undenominational schools, without wounding that tender conscience which people carry in their pockets, .so that if you do but touch their purse strings , a thrill of agony is conveyed to their pocket consciences; But, Mr Stafford says, 'You shall not escape being rated for public education by the pretence that it hurts your pocket conscience. Just leave that matter to the parents of the children, and pay your rate.3 ; ' they shall be impartially distributed to those schools which the parents of the children may be foolish enough, or wise enough, to prefer, and which satisfy the State Inspectors as to the efficiency of their teaching, their healthful ness,' &c. / ; "If Mr Stafford has a workable scheme of this sort I, for one, think he is the man of the age ; he will solve the great educational problem of our day. He deserves, I humbly think, every encouragement; and imperfect systems, each containing great elements of success, must in the end give place to a more perfect system, combining the advantages of both if such there be. All who are anxious for the character, the morality, the high tone of the rising generation must heartily wish MY Stafford success, which, if he achieves, he will win a name worthy of one of the highest places in the Councils of her Majesty at home, and be the means of greatly benefiting our common country and pur Empire throughout the world. This is a position worth striving for, and those electors who, by securing Mr Staffed a seat, enable him to test ..his ■system practically, will do a great service to our country. It is the strong feeling with which my long study of the educational systems, abroad and at home, for between thirty and forty years has im-. pressed me — a feeliug that modern notions and nostrums are most unsound and dangsrous, as well as tyrannical — which alone has urged me to come forward in your columns, and offer my humble support to Mr Stafford's views .at this particular moment. . / "Your obedient servant, ' " Thomas Tanoeed, Sen. <f P.S. —There is an ancient motto which I should like to have inscribed on every school edifice, and impressed on the hearts of all teachers and managers of sch' bold, viz .:— ' Mere secular knowledge puffethup; whereas the love of God and ot our- neighbor, for the sake of Christ, edifieth.'" . '

False: sovereigns,, chiefly composed of platinum, are in circulation, and are not to Be distinguished from the genuine coin . except by the process of ringing, when the difference in sound can immediately he, detected. A specimen taken by Mr Harrison, of \£ardou.r street, dated 1856, which was "discovered to be false only by clipping on 7 a portion, was shown at the bank 6n,Feb*uary 6, and admitted: alike as regards weight and appearance to be a perfect imitation.