THE EDUCATION RATE

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 657, 18 February 1869, Page 3

THE EDUCATION RATE

PUBLIC MEETING.

Alf important Public Meeting, in accord--Bnco witb advortisoment, was held in the Odd-fellows Hall on Monday evening. (The meeting was largely attended, and on the motion of Mr Morrison, Mr E. Brenton took the chair.

I The CiU-inMAN said that this meeting fcad been called for the purpose of resisting this obnoxious tax, or rather for the townspeople to decide whether they would resist it or quietly submit to it. If some united action was not taken in the matter, the people would either be obliged to pay the ta* or go on the hill, He then read the handbill convening the meeting. Mr W. Colenso said that he had been I requested to move the first resolution, and I hadgreat pleasure in doingso. It was necesjpary for him to state at the beginning that fhe did not consider this a political meeting I if it had been ho would not have been I there. For some years he had always attended political meetings —in fact, he almost say he had stood in the van in such matters; but when Napier left him to stand alone he retired to his residence on the hill, and kept himself ploof from political matters. There were various reasons why he had been called.on to move the resolution —one was, he supposed, that he had written a letter to the { Herald on the subject of the Education ! Bate; arid another, that he had been engaged for some time in the education of I the young, and at one time had held the 1 office of Inspector of Schools. The object of this movement must not be misuuder|,stood; it would almost appear, on the first blush, as if the people of Napier were ; opposed to education ; but this was not the case. Ho knew that they would not refuse aid when it was wanted, and to the full extent required ; and no better instance of this could be found than in spite of the badness of the times, the large sum collected for the refugees from PovertyBay. There were two kinds of education rates which he could uphold. The first was a rate which would fall on everyone, and by which all children in the place would be benefited; and he believed the time was not far distant when such a rate would be in force. It might even be that Great Britain, that country which was so slow to modify her old institutions that she hardly kept pace with the times, would ere long adopt such a measure throughout the length and breadth of her land. There was something strange to an Englishman in the idea of compulsory education ; and it might be some time before the principle would be adopted in the colony; but a feeling in its .favor was gaining ground in England. The second kind of rate which he could uphold was one which would be for the poor who could not afford to educate their own children, and to such children an education ought to be given. [Applause.] This subject of making provision for education had attracted much attention in New Zealand. It was less than a month since the Superintendent of Wellington notified to all teachers in the Province that they could receive Provincial Government aid no longer, and in his Auckland papers of last week he saw that the report of a committee on a Bill for the education of the children of tbo Province was before the Council. This showed that we were not alone in making a movement in this direction. The editor of the Herald, in a late issue, published part of a speech by Mr M‘Earlane, of Auckland, on the subject of educational rates. He wondered at Mr James Wood, the editor of that paper, having inserted it; the ideas were so similar to thoso contained in the letter which he (Mr C.) had written to the Herald, and which the editor of tnat journal highly disapproved of, though he did not refute it. He would call attcutendon to a few remarks of Mr M'Earlane’s. Speaking of the two principal systems ol education he said : “ The national system is more economical than the voluntary, because where the former system prevails schools will be placed where they will be more suitable to the population, and only a sufficient number will be placed instead of as at present every denomination having a school, and sometimes in close proximity to each other, —thereby frittering away the funds ever a number of inferior schools, while one good one would bo more beneficial to all concerned.” This was the the very point the editor of the Herald ■would never approach. If from the num* of children in their town were deducted

those whose parents could well afford to educate them, and those who would not bo allowed to go to school because their parents thought the present use of the poor little things better than their education, there would only be a certain number left to provide for. If schools were to be denominational each party should support its own ; and he believed the time was approaching when no New Zealand Government would subsidise any but secular schools. He (Mr 0.) would resist as long as breath remained in his body any attempt to levy a rate for schools where catechism was taught. He said get the best possible teachers—give as good instruction as was obtainable—furnish the school as well as possible—but one school was quite sufhcient for the tovvd of Napier. The people

who would support this rate might be divided into five classes. The first class was those who were the particular friends of his Honor the Superintendent. The second were his slaves—those who were afraid to say that their souls were their own. [Applause]]. These dared not resist the tax, however great their conscientious objections to it might be. The third was what a writer in one of the papers recently called the “ lords of Hawke’s Bay,”—those who were well off, and could pay their pound and not miss it. He need not name any , of them—they were well known. The fourth was by far the most numerous class —those who would pay it for peace and quietness’ sake, feeling it at the same time to be an imposition. The fifth was those who had children —two, three, or four — who paid their pound to save other pounds —thus putting principle under foot. These were, he considered, the five classes who faid the education rate. In the Wellington Independent he observed a letter from the Inspector of Public Schools in Wellington, an able man, who had received a University education, and was now acting Head Master of the Grammar in that Province recently opened by the Governor. Ho would read an extract from this letter: “That is the present position of the difficulty, a position painful alike to the Government which is constrained to such a measure of retrenchment —to the officer whose duty it has been to superintend these institutions —to the committees who have exerted themselves, and in many cases involved themselves, in order to maintain them in operation —and to the teachers, all poorly paid at the best of times, and whose sources of income are now seriously reduced; but to which I fear all must how under the imperious law. or absence of law, of necessity.” That is, that the W eilington Province has no longer any money to devote to educational purposes. For a remedy, ho refers the Government back more than two centuries. He says : “Surely our New Zealand states, men might have learnt a lesson of practical wisdom from their pilgrim forefathers of the I7ih century. The New Zealand emigrants enjoined at once (in!6i2) upon the municipal authorities ‘ the duty of seeing that every child within their respective jurisdictions should bo educated, and to impose a fine for such neglect; ’ and in 1647 an act was passed, (the foundation of the present American system, and the secret of her advancement and strength.) requiring ‘every township containing fifty householders to appoint a teacher to teach the children to read and write; ’ also every township of 100 householders to ' S et up a grammar school whose master should bo able to instruct youth so far as they may bo fitted for the university.’ Heavy penalties for neglect wore imposed, the schools were all free, and the fines and public funds appropriated to their support.” There were not many townships in this Province containing fifty householders ; yet we found schools dotted all over the country, in glens where there wore perhaps two or throe scholars, and this was how the educational funds had been frittered away. It was somethingj the same in Auckland ; there was at least j a school in every large street. This arose from the desire of parents to have the school close at hand, and from every denomination requiring one of its own. This state of things would last as long ns the Government found means to assist in carrying it out. The first part of the re solution he had to move referred to the impolicy of levying the rate during this 1 period of depression, and the severity with which it would bear on the public. When the gentleman first appointed to collect the rate failed in so doing, the wisest course for the Government would have been to let the act remain in abeyance till the next sitting of the Council. It was stated at the time this act was

originally brought forward that it was to bo a temporary measure —for on® year only—pending certain legislation in the General Assembly on the subject; but anyone conversant with the acts could see that this was untrue and that it was intended to be a permanent tax. All temporary measures had stated upon their face fc he time they were intended to remain in force, and this one did not. The collector, too, was appointed to collect “ rates,” not a rato for one year only. The people should resist the insertion of the thin edge

of the wedge. This third tax to which they had been subjected thej could not now ride three miles out of town without having to “fork out.” Ho sup-

posed wa would next liava Tax No. 4 poor’s rates, and that tho people who lefi the heavily taxed country of Gfreat Britain for a land where they might spend their life-time without being visited by the taxgatherer would find their burdens here heavier than at home. [Applause.] The depression of the present time was increased by the gloomy prospect presented of nothing better in the future. If this were a political meeting he might enter into the subject of the cause of this depression and follow it through some of its many ramifications'; but it was not the subject for consideration that evening. It might be said, “Do you suppose the Su-

perintendent or the Collector would be so hard-hearted as to enforce the tax on those who cannot afford to pay it?” If not, what was to be done ? There was no loop hole in] the Act. Was it to be left to the discretion of the Collector ? Was lie to go round secretly and say—“ Well, never mind —you are a voter’. We’ll let you off?” We had heard of such thingsSuch a use might be made of this act, — lie did not say that such a use avould be made of it. The collector was a person of the Superintendent’s own choosing, and his Honor knew that a general election was not far distant. [Applause.] He !md divided those who would pay the tax into five classes: ho could divide those who would resist it into three. The first class ho would name consisted of those who, without being actually unable to pay it, would feel it more than the poor man who could not find the money. There were many in this position, and he might say he was one of them. Already he spent in education two thirds of lus entire receipts from all sources; and though he would not object to contribute towards the education of the children of the poor, be

would not pay it for the benefit of those who wore as well or better able to afford it than himself —and this, he was sure, was the feeling of a great many. Another class consisted of respectable and hardworking men, who, with considerable difficulty, kept their children at sch.o Is which received no part of the Government dole. Was it not hard that those who perhaps stinted themselves in clothes and other necessaries to afford their children education without being pauperized by Government aid, to be obliged to pay £1 to a schoolfund for the benefit of others in a better position than themselves, but who had no such scruples? [Applause.] The third

class were the old settlers, men who had educated their children ia the early days of the Province —who, when the best sections in the town conlcl be obtained for £5, chose to .apply the little money they could raise to the education of their children, instead of investing it in land. It was to be hoped that they had been in some measure rewarded for their self-denial ; .but now that their children had grown up around them, was it not hard to have £1 dragged out of them tu pay for the education of children of parents bettor off than ever they were ? The old Education Act worked very well until the schoolmasters attempted to raise their incomes from £IOO or £2OO per annum to £SOO, by evading it. One of the Inspectors had passed the children of well-to-do people, and had them educated at the public expense ; thus increasing the expenditure under the act, and granting them a privilege intended solely for the poor. There were many of the public,who were not slow to take advantage of it. He nil these thinos exnosed in papers laid

on tno Provincial Council table; but too late to put a slop to '.be practice—and ever since people had been continually seeking to educate their children at Government expense. He would now toll what he said when the Collector called on him for the tax. He at first told him he was not prepared to pay it. On the visit of that gentleman with the agricultural census, he asked him to think about it. Ho (Hr G.) then said he did not intend doing so, as ho had thought about it too much already. For quietness’j sake, however, lie said: “Four months have passed, and the rate is £ I for the year. Hero is 6s 8d; take i that, and call again when Iho I’CSfc is due.”

He refused 4 this, and left behind him one of those little documents which he had left with so many other persons. He now came to the second part of the resolution, which stated that the Government had not exhausted the means within its power for educational purposes —a statement which he fully endorsed. He perfectly understood that the Government had not funds to keep up all the schools at present existing in Napier ; but they had certainly funds enough to keep up one school, which was all that the town needed. When he was inland he saw a school at Abbotsford on the Waipawa, and then another at Kai-

kora —the distance between the two places being so small that ho walked from one to the other in. less than an hour. If the people wanted so many schools, let them have them by all means, but at their own expense, for no Government could afford to support so many schools in, such districts. In the West of England when he was a boy, many of his schoolfellows came much greater distances than this, and he had no doubt that many in the room who had come from Scotland, where schools were so well attended, knew of places where children went many miles to school. He had been told that the Spit boys could not go to town to school. Ofj course they could not while they had a

school on the Spit supported by Government money. The Gazette last published contained the Abstract of Provincial Receipts and Expenditure for the quarter ending 30th September last. He perceived from this that the rents yielded by Educational Reserves during the quareer amounted to £77 2s Gd. He did not know whether this was the ordinary quarterly receipt, or more or less than usual; but that was ho amount received during the September quarter. Then there was the large estate at To Ante. He did not believe that any other Province in New Zealand had go fine a Reserve set apart for purposes of education, yet-thougli it was worth £5,0C0, he did not believe it had yielded to the purpose for which it was set apart as many pence. It might be said

that this was in the hands of trustees; but this trust had been given them by the people, and they should be shown that if they did not fulfil it, those who gave them the trust could also fake it asvay. Then there was thesplendid town property known as the Common School reserve. In the early days of the Province, when money was so scarce that schooling and alraosi everything else was paid for in a kind of barter, this valuable property was sub scribed for and bought by the townspeople as a reserve for education in the town of Napier, and upon it was built the first school in the Province. The site was now occupied by Messrs Newton, Irvine, it Co’s store, and w r as yielding a revenue of £3Ol per annum, which was now locked up in the Tank. That property was obtained for the public by Mr Marshall, who advanced money to purchase it while it was in the market—an act which should

never be forgotten, The reason that this money was not now available was that a few people, against the wishes of the majority of the subscribers, determined -that the money should not be appropriated to a common school: a dispute arose, and the matter was referred to the Supreme Court, so that the income from thiivaluable estate —£300 per annum, with the nest-egg derived from previous years, amounting, perhaps, altogether, to £7OO or £SOO—was now locked up in Chancery. [Hear, hear.] Means set apart for purposes such as education should be held sacred, and not be allowed to be used in any other manner. He believed that the Provincial Government could easily enough obtain the control of the money if it tried ; but the parlies who were instrumental in getting the estate into Chancery were those who wished the money to be devoted to a Grammar school for their children, and determined that I lie poor, for whom it was origi-

mdly intended, should derive no benefit) from it. [Applause ] lie would call tiieir attention to a report in a late Auckland paper, of a discussion on the report of the committee on the .Education 3JLII, The committee recommended shat a first-class teacher’s salary should be £75 per annum. Air MTlhone, a member who had been a teacher, asked if this was exclusive of fees. The reply was in the negative. “Then,” ho said, “in many cases teachers would prefer to depend upon the school fees, and dispense altogether with G overnment aid.” This was how the Auckland Council rated teachers' services—£7s per annum—and would any one say that the teachers in Napier could not earn that much.. The fact was, that they tried to assume the position of gentlemen instead of working men, as they really were. [Applause.] Mr James

Wood, the editor of the Herald, had not treated Ids letter in an honorable manner, lie did not approach the arguments it contained ; but snoke of the “ valuable class of persons” the Province would lose if the rate were not enforced. [Laughter.] Were teachers the only respectable class of persons upon whom the pressure of hard times would fall F He knew cf respectable tradesmen who had boon unable to resist it, and he blushed to think that this was the only argument that could be adduced in support of the tax. To be consistent it should be not only for the benefit of schoolmasters, but of all in pecuniary difficulties. For ■Napier one boys’ school and one girls’ school were all that wore wanted—[Hear, hear] -and could be easily supported from the income derived from the splendid town reserve he has already spoken of, and the proportion of the educational rents due to ihe town. He had but ono more remark to nu ke. Boys at school were in the habit of “chaffing” each other with such questions as; “If a pound and a half of sugar cost nineponce, how much will a bushel of coal come to f” So would ash oao something

s imilar: “I£ after borrowing £60,000 one Government inflicts three rates upon the public, what may we not expect when they have no money to spend ?” [Laughter. J He would now move the following resolu* tion

1. That this meeting is of opinion—that tha bringing of the Education rate at the present tima of great depression, will bear with much severity upon many heads of families, who are struggling against hard times, —an evil the more to be deplored, as the Government has not exhausted the means within its power whereby funds for educational purposes might be got without bringing a rate.

—[Mr Colenso then took his seat amidst loud applause.]

Mr Wilkinson rose to ask the last speaker a question. 'The meeting here became particularly noise, and it was with, difficulty ho obtained a hearing. He was heard to state that he was with the meeting as regarded the education rate, having refused to pay it. Some degree of order having been restored, he put his question, referring to the Common School Eeaerve. Mr Colenso having given the required information, the motion was seconded, and carried almost unanimously. Mr Eobjohns then moved the second, third, and fourth resolutions, as follows S. That the revision of the public expendhura contemplated by the Provincial Council last session—but postponed through expectation of legislation by the General Assembly, which has not been realised, —is immediately necessary, and for this urgent purpose the Provincial Council ought to be called together at the shortest possibla notice.

3. That a united effort be made, if the Government persist in levying the rate, to test its legality. 4. That a copy of these resolutions be conveyed to his Honor the -Superintendent by the Chairman and Messrs Edwards, Cotterell, and Colenso, as a deputation and that ills answer be published, in the press.

—When this measure was passed in the Council it was distinctly stated that it was to be merely of a temporary nature, and that the G-eneral Assembly would take these matters into its hands last session. The Assembly had not done so, and there was every prospect of the tax being permanent. Since the native troubles in our neighborhood we had been heavily taxed, in time as well as money, and under these circumstances ho thought the sooner the Council was called together the better. Mr Edwakds seconded the resolutions in a few remarks, having reference chiefly to errors in G-overnmeat returns.

Mr Locke asked the meaning of the second resolution. He could not understand it. The CmiEiiAtST said he -was rather in a fog ns to its meaning too. [Laughter.} Perhaps some one would explain it, A long pause ensued. No one volunteering to explain the resolution, — The CiiAiaaiix said they had better waive the foggy resolution, and pass on to the third and fourth.

Mr Robinson would like to ask a question. 110 saw some who were laughing, [f they had to pay £1 —£2 it was in his case, —they might not feel so much inclined to laugh ; and nest time it might bo £2 for education, and £3 for poor rates, if the meeting separated after simply passing these resolutions, w'e would bo little better off than we were before. To keep men, some of whom a member in Council iiad described as being little better than paupers, wo were asked to subscribe—some £1 and some £3 —and lie would ask the chairman how tiie meeting intended to present it. Was it by merely passing barren resolutions ? There were plenty present ; let them subscribe Is to 2s each, and by that means obtain a fund by which they might test the legality of the measure. This had been done in a neighboring £rorince with a very similar tas, and it was found that it could not legally be imposed. Neither, he believed, could this one.

The Chairman read a paper by which those signing it guaranteed to subscribe to the extent of 5s each if necessary to defend any victims of the Act, and put ihe legality of the tax to the test. Many persons came forward and signed it. The resolutions were then put and carried, with the exception of No. 2, which was allowed to fall to the ground. A collection was then made to pay tho expenses of the committee, and, after tho usual vote of thanks to the Chairman, tho meeting dispersed.