THE RATE FOR EDUCATION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 655, 11 February 1869, Page 2

THE RATE FOR EDUCATION.

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Times, . Sra, —The correspondence that has appeared, as well in your contemporary's columns as in-your own join" nal, may he fairly accepted as indir eating that the attempt to levy payment in a direct form of a pound annually for has done more to rouse our somnolent settlers from their political lethargy in vincial matters,, and to remove from their eyes" the film that has hithert.o obstructed a clear view of the waste, extravagance, and general mismanagment characteristic of our local Government, than all that has been said or sung on these fertile subjects, The bringing us face to face with taxation has been a wholesome process, and it is to be regretted that it did not occur- earlier, ere the- Treasury chest had' been submitted to so drastic a course of depletion .. The authors of the act have thus so far conferred a benefit on us, even though it has been done unwittingly, and the said benefit does not flow, in a channel of their construction, nor one they desire to■ see it take. That opposite opinions should preval in regard to- the expediency of the rate, gives me no surprise, nor that advocates anent it, p?-o and con, should resort to the Press for promulgation of their views. Editorial paragraphs, however, ought, I conceive,, to place the matter in a fair light before the public, and it is because I believe a breach of this justice was committed by the Editor of the Herald—in his last issue, when referring to the ratecollector's return from a triumphant ftn*ay at Mohaka—that I write you.. The words used are as follows : ; "In Mohaka even, a district which has not, and never had a school, every settler but one paid the demand of the Collecter, We are truly glad of this."

1 Now, sir, I submit that this style of writing is not ingenuous, and serves to foster in the minds of our com munity (the vast majority of whom really know nothing about Mohaka) first, that some unaccountable yet gross wrong has been done to our friends there by the non-establish-ment of a school in their midst; and, second, that despite this injury,, such is their love of the rate —such their patience and long-suffering—that all is forgotten and overlooked; they hail the collector with cheers, and " fork out" without a murmur. The brightness of this picture is dimmed, (perhaps one should say enhanced) by the obstinacy of one solitary re calcitrant. How far the blandishments and persuasiveness of Mr Pearse may have contributed to so happy and successful a result we in Napier will probably soon have an opportunity of forming a personal estimate. Had the Herald told us the exact number of pound's collected at Mohaka, regarding which so jubilant a cry is raised, we would have known better whether to join in chorus, or to hang down our heads in meekness and contrition.. I venture a guess that the number doe.i not exceed ten —for the district, I has not a greater number than that of rateable dwellings in it; and these abodes lie miles apart. Such being the population of Mohaka, the maintenance there of a schoolmaster would not be easy, and I leave it to the Herald to show how one could ever have been supported without undue pressure elsewhere. In one way that paper's great influence with the Provincial authorities, might be of marked service at this juncture. Let it distinctly, resolutely, and with: no faint nor uncertain sound, advocate such retrenchment as is demanded by our financial condition. Let it earnestly urge that this be set about at once; be ginning where it can be most effectual, viz., in the Superintendent's department itself. A reduction there of one-half of the £I,OOO per annum it costs, would aupersede the necessity for an educational rate at all, or at least till we get breathing time in our difficulties; and cKe loss would fall on those whose duties are mere sinecures. If this be not done, we may yet have to raise- a vote to maintain the said office fa its present lusty over-fed vigor.. ARGUS.