Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1111, 4 September 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1871.

On Thursday, An gust 31, Mi* Fox, in the House of Representatives, moved the second reading of the Government Education Bill, and in a speech of nearly an hour and a half duration explained its provisions. The interest of the public in the measure was manifested by an unusually large attendance of strangers who gave unmistakable signs of satisfaction with the general principles embodied in the Bill. The Government, however, does not intend to insist pn the passage of the Bill in the precipe form in which it is introduced, but "will most gladly receive suggestions from hon. members for the making of improvements in the machinery which the Government proposed." M v Fox informed the House that in five of the provinces—Otago, Canterbury, Nelson, Auckland, and Wellington, the laws relating to education were practically identical? forty-five clauses of the Education Acts of these provinces being exactly the same, ha\ ing been taken from the Nelson Act; and so much was embodied in the Government Bill, only instead of merely local administration the Government would itself take the position of head- of the educational system, by means of a responsible minister. Under the minister of educa+ion will be placed a secretary and also a "body of inspectors."' ' On the part of the provinces " boards" would be established as means of communication with the Government, so far as practicable existing boards would be made use of, but the Government would endeavor to establish a system of uniformity in them. Under the several boards would be school committees for each local district. No precise method of election for these bodies had been presented, but Mr Fox thought that the system adopted in England, which had been found to work exceedingly well and give greater satisfaction to universities than any other, could be easily introduced. Of the schools to be established and receive state aid under the Act, there would be schools teaching the ordinary branches of education. Next, grammar schools and high schools. Aid, however, might be given to schools not named in the Bill. The Bill provided for a system of inspection, without which the Bill would be a mockery. The inspection must be frequent and not of local character. None of the existing schools had any sufficient system of inspection and in consequence the scale of education was low. With regard to religious teaching, the Bill provided for " religious but non sectarian teach ing,'' it also contained a conscience clause which was taken from Forster's English Bill, and which was giving satisfaction in England. Two hours consecutively, both forenoon and afternoon, was to be devoted solely to secular teaching, and parents objecting lo the religious element could send their children half-an-hour after the opening of the school, and so entirely avoid all fear of proselytizing. The Aot also contained provisions under which "strictly denominational schools" could receive its benefits. Education under the Act would be compulsory. Under the best of the non-compulsory systems, only half of the children that should attend school attended, and in all countries where education had been most successful it was compulsory. Besides the above, the Bill contains provisions for rating property, &c, in support of the scheme of education. Jt wss

received on the whole with great favor by the House, some hon. members offering slight objections to some of its details, particularly to the latitude it gives in contemplating so many different descriptions of schools and varieties of rating for their support. The debate was not, however, concluded on Thursday night, but sftands adjourned till tomorrow. The Bill will probably pass without much opposition, though doubtless it will undergo some considerable modification in committee.