THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1869.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 180, 19 June 1869, Page 2

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1869.

“ Givr me the liberty to know, to utter, ami to prgue freely according- to conscience, above all other liber ties.’ —Milton.

Ist our issue of the sth instant we gave a "brief analysis of the Education Resolutions, as recently passed by the Provincial Council, and proposed to be embodied in a Bill to be introduced in the Assembly during the present Session. We now propose to show how we consider them to be not only defective, but cruelly unjust when locally applied to our own district—that of the Wairau. Their whole tenor appears to us to lead towards the extinction of assisted Education. As it is admitted on all sides that Education is a means of preventing crime, and therefore lessens the taxes on property, it follows that owners of property ought to contribute towards the Education of those who cannot afford to pay for it themselves; but these Resolutions will have just the contrary effect, for while they provide that for every child shall be paid certain fees, they also allow a proviso which exempts those who attend any other school-—a practice to which well-to-do people will be prone. Again, those persons who have no children between the age of seven and twelve will be exempt, thus laying down the principle that every one shall pay for their own Education only. If this principle holds good it may be very pertinently asked, Why have any Act at all 1 Being under compulsion to pay the fees will not make poor parents send their children to school, but will rather cause them to retain them at home to assist in earning the Tax, for such it may be properly termed. These Resolutions are bad in principle. They provide for a certain amount o'? Land Revenue being apportioned to the various districts. This at first sight would appear to be a boon ; but the system as applied to towns by the project before us is not only bad, but a positive injustice to the towndwellers. The towns are the places where the poor are mostly found, and where laborers live who cannot afford to pay

wholly for the Education of their children. We have always imagined that endowments for Education were provided in much the same spirit as those for charitable purposes, but these Resolutions, if carried out, would have just the contrary effect. They provide that for every child residing within three miles of the school-house shall be paid the heavy rates as laid down in the schedule, that is, for the first child, £2 ; for the second, 30s. and each other, 20s. per annum —a rate which will make a large proportion of families pay £4 10s. yearly \ therefore poor persons will not send any child to school under seven an age when the children of the class alluded to learn, as a rule, much of what they ever know j nor over twelve, an age when they begin to appreciate the advantages of Education, It must be quite clear, then to the most superficial observer that, if these Resolutions are carried into law, they will prevent those children from being educated whose parents cfuinot afford to pay for it themselves, therefore giving those who can best afford to pay, the control over money contributed by the poor. In common with all who have lived long in this Province, we must acknowledge that Local Education Boards have proved a failure. In few districts have they studied the interests of Education in their locality, but have rather served as grounds for differences between neighbors, to get friends into places of influence or profit, or to form what we have heard called a “ family party we therefore consider the institution of Central Boards an improvement, but the representation ought most certainly to be in proportion to the fees raised by each school. The revenue to be apportioned to each district will be very small, and we cannot see why persons not paying school fees, nor sending their children to the school, and living perhaps 50 miles away from a school, should have an equal voice in their management. Again, we contend that the endowment ought to be in proportion to the fees raised by each school, and spent upon it. To show how the system will apply in Blenheim for example : we believe—for we can only approximate the sum —this town will contribute at least £350 per annum at the proposed scale; while the expense schools here will not exceed £250. The difference, together with the nominal share of the Land Revenue, will not be spent in forming a better school, or to improve the one we have, but will go to maintain schools in such districts as the Wairau Valley, which will contribute about £3O ! Yet Blenheim, which is a centre of population, will have but the same amount of representation as the least locality—that is, one member. Therefore assuming these figures to be a fair approximation, Blenheim —instead of having a share of the Land Revenue as an Education Endowment —will not only get nothing , but will contribute £IOO a year for getting nothing I The other districts having our money to spend (for we may suppose a little log-rolling even on that Board,) may combine, and arrange matters so that they may have a school costing as much as ours, so that instead of having a first-class High School with suitable masters, in the principal town, we shall never have anything better than at present, and if we aspire to anything beyond an elementary education for our children, we must expatriate them to another Province, a course which also lias its attendant evils.

Nor should the fact bo overlooked, that no share of the Land revenue will come to Blenheim for any other purpose. This town has undertaken the charge of its own roads, any Eoad district that may be formed will be bounded by the Borough, and our Provincial Council —blindly following the lead of the Government, (allied with the Picton party,) whose Head has no longer reason to consider it—has failed to provide in any way for supplementing our rates, except by conveying the produce of a Dog Tax, should we ever think it well to call the Act into force ! Yet the Government is allowed to continue drawing revenue from Blenheim to the amount of several hundred pounds annually in the form of Publicans’ and other licenses.

The only remedy we see for this strange anomaly, is to call a public Meeting at once, and petition the General Assembly before it is too late, bearing in mind that the Resolutions are already on the table of the House. Then, if this atrocious mea -j sure be not cast out, rent to pieces, ancl scattered to the winds —if justice be not\ accorded us—if we are to be taxed to edu-| cate the country districts—there is still a ! 'means of defeating the scheme by openingj a Private School at lower rates than the! School Tax, and thus evade it. I We should like to know the inventor oi| this precious scheme, evidently intended toj

benefit the Country Districts at the expense of the Town, in order that we might avoid such representation in the future. How the Council, containing many shrewd men, could be led to sanction it as they did, is a wondrous mystery. Should Mr. Eyes introduce the Bill, we trust he will be met with such a counter petition as will indicate most unmistakably, even to him, that he is our Representative but in name only.