THE EDUCATION QUESTION IN AUCKLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1827, 13 June 1874, Page 2

THE EDUCATION QUESTION IN AUCKLAND.

[PKOM THE OXAGO DAILY TIMES's CORRESPONDENT;] Again the deluge of agitation is upon us, threatening to acquire an intensity even exceeding that of last year. The cause is, of course, the Education Rates, which the Council havH doubled and in some cases trebled; while they Have.' also levied 20a a year on all persons over 21 years old, not heads of households, and therefore not liable to . the. rate in that capacity." The clauses authorising . these rates were_ carried by large; majorities in the Council, last evening, and a public meeting is being now got up to "protest against their becoming law. The case is a hard one, but what . else to , do is the question. At least L 20,000. must be raised, and the rate of lust year* only produced LBOOO.. The. endowments do- not yield L4OO a year, and are'not likely to yield much more for years to come. The Council had- ; only two ; courses before them. Either, they had to abandon any \ system of State; Education .altogether, or '■ to raise a sufficient amount to cany it-on : effectively. Inefficient -schools only calI culated to crush out of existence, all private enterprise without doing good themselves, would.be an absolute injury. : Fancy .taxes of ■) all kinds were' proposed, I but of course passed by.' A very ingenious ■argument was; Used by Mr I}argayille to ■levy an export : duty of L 4 to L 5 on I kauri gum, which . duty he maintained ; would fall- entirely on . the : English ' and Ameriaan . consumer. :■ Mr.. Dar- ; gaville is himseif « a large; dealer in the ■ article, and thoroughly 'believes in the I doctrine he enunciated.^^ His 'argument | was that gum must be, had for varnish and i other manufactures/and that until, kauri jhas reached a high : price nothing can be , brought into competition with it. Auckland has the monopoly of the sjpply. No other part of, the ; world exports it, and !the price is' at' present entirely dependent on the extent of shipments from this port. It is thu3 in a very peculiar position, but reflection speedily .convinced the Council that any. tax must come eventually out of the earnings of the gum digger, whose living is the hardest, the poorest, and: the most precarious, in the Colony. About 3500 ,tqnß,,are exported yearly at, an average price of L3oW ton. : The Maoris find gu in-digging a congenial pursuit, but no white men engage in it so long as they can earn decent wage 3 in/any other. The country in which it is found is barren, inhospitable, and without settled population. It is apparent that if a higher price could be obtained for it now, Ene exporting merchants would certainly have . secured it. If they, cannot dictate to.the market now, how could they withY a duty upon it? But the proposal,.;received at the -moment with great favor as an escape from the difficulty of raising the '■ : money, was ultimately aban£ doned. The discontent is general and deep, and people are casting a wiatful eye upon the very large contribution they make to the revenue of the Colony while receiving so little ;in return. A strong feeling is rising against the Geneial Government, which; ignores all responsibility for education, while absorbing the chief means on which Auckland, without land for endowments or.revenue; could rely for its maintenance. ' .;What form 'that discontent will utimately take remains to be seen. By some it proposed to revert to the denominational sjstem, of which the Catholics and the Church of England are the chief supporters. By others it is proposed to do nothing, and throw the onus on the General Government. The majority^ especially in the country districts, are bent on keeping up the schools for the present, leaving the battle to be fought out with the General Government at tho next session of Assembly. But

what can Auckland alone do while the Southern Provinces, living on a splendid land fund while it lasts, do not feel the same pinch 1 Ido not pretend to answer this question, but you will see that it is a very ierious one, aud the Colony cannot afford to let 70,000 of its people fall into a state of chronic discontent.