The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 165, 4 March 1854, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

March 4, 1854. We shall be curious to see the provisions of the measure for the promotion of Education in this Province, which has been announced £y Government to be in preparation. It shews considerable moral courage in a statesman to attempt legislation on this subject. We need hardly observe that it is one which in England, as well as in most of the countries of Europe, has been found to be environed with the greatest difficulties. .For many years, indeed, the establishment of a system of national education has occupied the attention of distinguished Statesmen in various countries, and the problem has received different solutions according to the genius and political condition of each. In some absolute monarchies it has been made compulsory in all children to attend State schools of different grades, in which the course of instruction, and even the particular books to be employed, have been rigorously prescribed by authority, so that an amateur teacher venturing to administer any other than the regular course of mental treatment would be regarded as a quack, and treated accordingly. In France, the prevailing rage for centralization and uniformity, together with a jealousy of the Priesthood, tended, till lately, to create a most arbitrary system of State instruction. In the mother-country, the doctrines of civil and religious liberty have happily acted as a bar to the adoption of Continental systems, which, like their paper constitutions, wearing at first sight an attractive appearance of symmetry and proportion, are found when set to work greatly inferior to our own less regular but more practical contrivances. We have thus the advantage of a widefield of experiment made for us at the expense of other nations from which to judge of the relative value of their several systems. That of France, chiefly devised by M. Cousin, which was once much in favour amongst some of our more advanced educationists, in which secular instruction was the only point cared for, any religious teaching being carefully excluded, has been . found so defective that it has entirely broken down, and the directors of the public schools in France are now hastening to repkce them under the superintendence of their natural guardians, the Bishops and Clergy, and other ministers of religion. In fact, accurate statistics had clearly shewn that, under the former irreligious system the greater the amount of children attending school in any department, the greater invariably was the proportion of crimes to its

population! Nor was such a result to be wondered at as long as man's nature is corrupt and prone to evil; for the mere sharpening of the intellect, without training the heart by the holy precepts of Christianity, js only giving the pupil greater power of doing evil. It will be generally found, we believe, that^the nature! originator and director of popular education in any place is the minister of religion, who feels himself responsible for the training up of the young in the way they should go. He knows by experience that unless some intellectual culture, combined with instruction in the elements of -the faith, have been given in youth, his ministrations have little chance of reaching many members of his flock in after years. Under this persuasion, and residing amongst the people, visiting them from house to house, and having his time free from other occupations, the clergyman or the minister of religion is usually the most willing and efficient agent, through whom the assistance ,of public funds for the promotion of education can be applied to his flock. It is from losing sight of this important fact, and from a false idea that, because the State supplied funds it must therefore personally intrude into and usurp functions which it is quite unfitted to exercise, that the greatest mistakes and failures in the plans for projnoting popular education have generally .arisen. We shall see this more clearly in a parallel case : supposing ■ Parliament, having voted funds for a campaign, should not be satisfied to leave the management of •the business to the Commander-in- Chief and the officers of the army, but should insist upon having a civil agent of their own to watch the expenditure and control the plans of the properly-trained military authorities, as was actually, done by the French Directory at the commencement of Napoleon's career. Hence we think that the application of public funds to educational purposes should be entrusted with a worthy confidence and cordiality of feeling to such religious ministers and lay members of their :as shall have given proof of their zeal and .ability in the cause, by originating schools ; and that the object of the Legislature should be rather to encourage and assist, than jealously to control and keep a watch over their endeavours. A irinister of leligion, engaged in such'"a work, will naturally be anxious to obtain the assistance of some of the laity of his flock who are really friendly to his efforts, though he might reasonably object, after incurring the chic-;' trouble and responsibility of getting up and conducting the school, to be at the mercy of a parochial board or vesty, who from personal pique might thwart his efforts, and even convert the school Wo an engine of opposition to himself. Unless the school be an integral part of the Parochial establishment, like the Parochial schools in Scotland which have produced such excellent results, it is apt either to become inefficient through want of superintendence, or a rival to the clergyman's influence. Another great mistake into which we trust that we iii this Settlement shall not lall, as there is less excuse for it here than in England, is making the school a charity instead of its being self-supporting. Nothing, we are persuaded, tends to depreciate the value of education in the eyes of the people so much as its being- offered to them at less than cost price. By this mistaken course the funds of the school, on the one hand, are gratuitously crippled and rendered insufficient to maintain the best teachers and style of instruction, whilst, on the other, parents, so far from appreciating the motives of the managers, often consider it nither a favour done to them to send their children to their school at all.

Let there be a scale of charges according to the amount of instruction, books, &c, received by each pupil, the scale being arranged so as to secure the services of efficient teachers; the school will then be appreciated, and parents will cheerfully make sacrifices for the benefit of their children. This general system need not preclude exceptions being made under peculiar circumstances, as, for instance, in favour of large families of young children, -widows, &c, at the discretion of the school managers. Having thus indicated some of the principles on which we conceive that a system of State assistance to popular education should be based, we shall await with interest the appearance of the promised [measure, and shall then probably offer some remarks on its applicability to our local circumstances.

We invite the attention of our readers to the report of a meeting of the Cattle Investment Society, held at the Mitre Hotel on Monday evening lest. Looking at the Prospectus published a short time ago in this paper, the report read at the meeting, and the resolutions passed, this Society appears one of those useful institutions, which, if properly and carefully managed, (and by the constitution of the Society the management is practically in the hands of the shareholders,) will not only be attended with great advantage to the paities investing their money, but to the Settlement at large. To the working-classes, some of whom have already subscribed for shares, it proposes facilities for a ready and,comparatively safe investment; and with this recommendation, that the shares, representing stock at all times capable of being turned into money, might, in times of sudden or unforeseen accidents, become marketable securities for raising temporary loans, or other similar purposes. As a scheme for investment of small capital, it offers great advantages, the large per centum increase of stock in New Zealand being universally acknowledged. On 'such grounds we sincerely hope the expectations of the promoters of. the Society may be fully realized.

Cheap Land.—The first very extensive sale of land in the Province of Canterbury outside the Canterbury block, has taken place. Mr. Moore, acting as agent for his brother-in-law, Mr. Kerraode, of Port Philip, has actually purchased forty thousand acres. He has paid £14,000 for 28,000 acres at ten shillings, and has made a deposit of £3,000 for the remaining i -.000 acres, which are to be inspected by the Com-nissioner of Crown Lands, and if declareu aot worth more than ss. an acre, this latter quantity of 12,000 acres will be set up to public sale. The land selected formed portions of the sheep runs held respectively by Mr. Sidey, and Messrs. Waitt & Laurie. ' According to the new Government regul-.tions two-thirds of the funds arising from the sale of land will be paid into the Provincial Chest: in this case, out of the money paid for the 24,000 acres, about £10,500 will be at the disposal of the Province. This sum, with the amount to be refunded to the Province, and which we find is over £3,000 (and not, as -we stated last, week, £2,000), will make a total of nearly £14,000 due to the Provincial Treasury. It is rumoured that a further purchase of 75,000 acres is about to be made by another Sydney gentleman. Gratifying as the possession of the necessary funds for the carrying on the public works of the Settlement may be, we certainly should like to be enlightened as to the probabilities of such ' sales as the above facilitating the working man's acquisition of freeholds for his children, so much vaunted during' the late discussions.

The paper entitled General Principles of a Constitution of the Church in New Zealand, containing the several variations proposed at the various meetings held in the colony, will lie for signature at the News Room, at Lyttelton, till Tuesday evening next.