NEXT MONDAY NIGHTS CONTEST.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 April 1910, Page 4

NEXT MONDAY NIGHTS CONTEST.

To thtx Editor

Kir, —At i\ discussion at the recent, meeting of the. British .Medical Association in Wellington, I was much impressed by the statement made b.v more than one leading niixiicaJ practitioner that the ouiy way to bring the children up with a useful •imount of moral self-control is to introduce, religious teaching into the. public schools. Tn order that the I'iiug generation may !>;v"mt> the most useful citi/ens, and live the "nest useful lives, a liigli degreo i.l' self-control is absolutelv neeetwary. l'\vv thirty-three years t'io presenr -'•eciilar system of education Ixis l>:^ , ;;

in operation, and as n result a Li !•.»■;• proportion of our youiip: popiilati.,'; is practically heatlieii. Family life is out of date, the e.onlnjiioii.s disoa.ves are spreading, the birth rat? is I'alliiiir, and the do'vtli rate is ri.sMiji. The ri'ine !y is io sire tlie "hil'lreii a hi'ili ethical training so :is to flevelop the faculty ef self-con-trol, and tilip ethics (,f Ciiristianilv will effect the object, more surely Hian oiny other system. T'nde.r the Zealiii'-l Jvlucation Act the .school hours prescribed are twenty i week of five days, or four hnuis a. diiy. sclicols now meet fer five hours a day. All that is ihvomsary in order to have half-an-hnur -i week for Biltle reading is for t!;e Hducation Board to give the schrid cmnmitteo pL'rinissioti to relucc , the school hours by half-an-hour once :i week, and for the school committee to set thi.s half-hour aside for Biblereadiiio;. Those children whoso parents hflve an objection, to tlieir learnin.c; the Bible in school cr.,:\

t'iv away. There is no -ftinpnl^i^n . F have mado enquiries from many places where this system, known as the Xelson system, is alreiuly in operation, nnrl in no ease was thenanv complaint that ifc interfeiv-d with school work. On the. other fiiiiul many replies indicated that the Bible reading was e\ pleasant bry n ,k in the week's work, and that th« tone of the school had improved ■Srince its adoption. Tho Xelson .system originated in Xelsoji about twelve years ago, and has heen adopted by Juvercargill, Keilding, Xapier, Wauganui, Morniiigfon (Diinedin), Oamarii, and Hawku's May. Under this system ten thousand children aro TJil)l<? lessons in the State Init there aro one hundred and fifty thousand children who are not getting Bihlo lossfwis .at school. T •ippwil to all those w,ho have thihiyhest interests of this yon 112; nation at heart to attend the elections of the school committees on Monday, 25th April next, and to vote for thoso candidates who are in favour of tho Bible being read in the State schools. In this way only can the. TCdue>ntion Boards which aro nppnsed to Bible reading in the schools, bo induced to give tin 1 committee the power to set apart a timo for Bible reading. Bible reading after school hours is a failure, for the pupils are too 'tired to attend. Some nro afraid of Bible study stiiTing up sectiriau strife. Th:\v are judging by the past, but have, failed to iiic.tice that the old strife was stirred up by individual or political selfishness or ambition, and not by a knowledge of tli: , Bible.—Yours, etc..

F. WALLACE MAQKKNZTE. President Householders' Loague