EDUCATIONAL RATES.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 168, 3 April 1869, Page 5

EDUCATIONAL RATES.

The following is an extract from a speech delivered by Mr. Macffarlane, at Wade, Auckland; — I shall now consider the educational question. The question of education came before the House in a form which I could not approve of, providing for university scholarships, while no provision was being made for the general community; and I took the liberty of stating to the House that I thought they were putting the cart before the horse in providing for university scholai ships before making sure that they had scholars to send to a university. I further stated that I was in favour of a national system of education in preference to the voluntary system. Ido not know that it .is necessary to state my reasons for coming to this conclusion, but I shall do so very shortly, especially as I have heard men declare that they would not pay one sixpence of taxes for the education of their children. In this matter I look upon the state as the parent of all the children in the country, and bound as such to see that everything is done for its children that will make them learned and intelligent members of society, and thereby provide the best guarantee against their ever after becoming 1 burdens on the general fund. The national system is more economical than the voluntary, because where the former system prevails schools will be placed where they will be most suitable for the population, and only a sufficient number will he placed —instead of as at present every denomination having a school —and sometimes ia close proximity to each other, therebv frittering away the funds over a number of inferior schools, while one good one would be more beneficial to all concerned. It is further the duty of the state to see that all its subjects can read the which they are expected to obey—just as it is its duty to provide magistrates, police, and gaols, to admini&ter those laws, and to punish offenders ; and the only way the state has to provide funds for carrying out these objects is by taxation in some form or other, either direct or indirect, or by setting aside land for the endowment of schools. And the man who will refuse to pay an educational tax I regare as the very worst enemy of his country, and as not entitled to enjoy the benefits, and the blessings of a civilised community; for the slightest consideration will show that the want of education increases the geneial expenses of the country by rendering necessary additional magistrates, police,.; gaols, asylums, &c. All history proves this.’. Take an example of this, say Prussia .and Austria, What is it that has raised the former to he one of the leading powers in Europe ? —the attention she has bestowed on the education of her people; and what is it that has thrust a power so great as Austria to an inferior position. ?—the neglect of her people in this respect. And what has made America the great nation she now is ?• - nothing but education —the genuine education of her people. • There, the teachers are highly paid, and men of the first talent vote themselves to this work—laborious work—of educating their .fellow-men, and the preparing everyone to take a first place in any walk in life to which he may be pleased to devote himself and his talents. I have faith in the future greatness, pf this colony, provided the proper means are adopted to secure this; and primary among these, means is the question of education. And therefore I would devote every sixpence that could bo spared to this noble object, ahd 1 1 would endeavour to carry out the system i . at present in operation in the rural districts 7 : of Scotland. I would have the colony dx- . vided into districts, and; in each district _l :?; , wouljd jiave a good school .and a;properly ;; r qualified teacher; and I would place « small • v 'tax op-land for this special purpose. -Whet* • the population in any district is not sufficient to occupy the time of a teacher, I would divide the district into sub-diatricta,

and make the teacher spend two or three days a week on each sub-district, till the population increased to such an extent as to get a school and teacher for each district or sub-school. I would even go farther than all this. Having provided schools and schoolmasters, I would do as they do in Prussia; I would compel parents to send their children to school and pay for their education—if they were able to do so. In Scotland the tax on land is a public burden, and the fact of having to pay this tax is always taken into account in fixing the price of land, and the rent of farms; and the purchaser or tenant takes the land on the distinct understanding that he has to pay this tax, and, therefore, no hardship is imposed on any one, while national good is the result. The tax is not always sufficient to pay the full salary of the teacher, and in these cases he is allowed to charge small fixed fees in addition from parents who are able to pay them. These fees induce the teachers to exert themselves so as to secure the? confidence of the parents, and the increase of their fees. This system has wrought well in the rural districts of Scotlanu, and I think it is admirably adapted to the peculiar circumstances of this colony, and would strongly and earnestly urge its adoption hero. But whether this system shall be adopted here or not, one thing I am fully convinced of, viz., that this colony will never be great, prosperous, or truly free, unless its j.eop e shall be thoroughly educated. The time is rapidly approaching when imported education shall have died out, and if we shall fail to train our children for the duties that shall necessarily devolve upon them as citizens of a free state, we shall fail —lamentably fail —in the first and most important duties imposed upon us by the great Father of all. ** Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” —JV.Z. Herald.