Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1880. OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 75, 14 May 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1880. OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

« Sir Hercules Robinson is known throughout the Colonies as an able and outspoken man, and therefore his speeches always carry considerable weight, being evidently the expressions of carefully formed and deeply rooted convictions. His position as the representative of the Crown necessarily precludes him ironi expressing his views upon the political questions of the day, as he may at any time be tjalled upon to decide between political parties, and if he have publicly expressed opinions in favor of* either side, and were to decide any question submitted to him in favour of that party whose views accorded with his own,the losing party would probably raise a ciy that his judgment was biassed against them. It is therefore a wholesome custom that upon party questions Governors do not ventilate their opinions. Nevertheless, there are questions remotely connected with politics upon which we hold it to be perfectly legitimate for the Governor of the country to express his views, without trenching too closely upon the line of demarcation which separates him from party warfare. The subject of education comes within this category, and we are pleased to notice that Si? Hercules Robinson has recently given the Colony the benefit of his criticisms upon our educational system. Having been invited to deliver the inaugural address at the opening of the Wellington Normal School on the Brd instant, he delivered a lengthy speech upon what he termed our " national plan of education." Upon this subject, Sir Hercules is in a marked degree fitted to speak, for not only is he a polished scholar, but his experience has been of a very diversified character, he having been originally an army officer, but afterwards employed for several years in the Civil Service in Ireland ; subsequently being President of Montserrat, Lieu-tenant-Governor of St. Christopher's, and Governor of the colonies of Hong Eong, Ceylon, and New South Wales before his appointmentto this Colony. He is therefore eminently qualified to form an opinion upon our system of education. It is gratifying to know that he considers it " admirable in its general design," and " the most comprehensive and ambitious scheme of free public education which has yet been attempted in any country in the world." But whilst bestowing these compliments upon the system, the speaker stated th^t the " doubts " which occurred to him were : whether our programme of primary education may not be found in practice to be too varied, and whether it may not

also be too oostly. These two questions have been repeatedly discussed ing tbese columns, and we have answered them both in the affirmative. Upon the first point, Sir Hercules does not express a direct opinion; but the very manner in whioh he states the question proves to our mind that he thinks too much is attempted. He puts it thus: — " Whether considering the very early age at which the majority of children are removed from school — attendance not being compulsory after thirteen — the cramming them with instruction in such a variety of subjects will not tend to lower the standard of efficiency in reading, writing, and arithmefcio — objects of primary importance — and thus substitute a smattering of many subjects for thorougness in a few." Upon the question of cost, however, Sir Hercules was pronounced. He said : — As to cost, however, I must confers that wheu I contemplate the expenditure which primary education will entnil on the general revenue, so soon as the scheme at present established by law is brought into fall operation, the prospect appears to me to be appalling. It must be borne in mind that the present Act has only been in operation for the last two years. In 1877 — the year before it oame into effoot — the number of public schools was 730* The average daily attendance for the whole year in these sohools was 40,837 ; and the total amount paid by the Government to Eduoation Boards — exclusive of the proceeds of Education Reserves— was £204,205, beinir £154,205 for ordinary expenditure, and £60,000 for school buildings. In 1878 the number of public schools was 748. The average daily attendance was 48,212; and the Parliamentary grants— exclusive of rents of reserves — amounted to £317,9-3, being £217,376 for ordinary expenditure, being £216,66(5 for ordinary expenditure, and £101,257 for school buildings In 1879 the number of public schools was 81*2. The average daily attendance for the whole year was 54,809 • and the Parliamentary grantsexclusive of reserves— amounted to £308,457 being £217,876 for ordinary expenditure and £150,581 for school buildings. Thus it will be seen that the Parliamentary grants for primary education have increased from £204,205 in 1877, to £317,923 io 1878, and to £308,457 in 1879 — or, in other words, from £5 for every child in average daily attendance in 1877, to £6 12s, in 1878, and j £6 14s 6d in 1879. j Had His Excellency carried his investigations still further, and included the amount voted for the nine months ending March 81, 1880, he would have found that (including Native Schools), the cost of the Ediication Department was estimated at £269,614 6s Bd, and for school buildings £181 ,000, making a grand total of £450,614 6s 8d for nine months, or at the rate of £568,267 18s 4d per annujtt. These figures are dreadfully <• appalling," and we can only repeat what we said on this subject some weeks ago, viz., " In the present condition of the colonial finance, we assert the colony cannot afford to keep up the present heavy expenditure on education, and before long the question must be faced in its sternest aspect Whilst the Colony was • flush ' of money, and things were prosperous, the large sums voted for education were not felt, but now our finance is drifting iuto a deplorable state, our Customs revenues are falling, and fresh taxes are being imposed, the question arises whether the responsibility of educating their children should not be laid upon the shoulders of pareuts." Looking to the future, Sir Hercules sees no prospect of the expenditure being lessened, but rather increased. Ho showed in the course of his speech that each year there has been a steady increase in the per centage of the average attendance to juvenile population, and that the expenditure on school buildings is not likely to be lessened. Therefore (to quote his words) If the present system be maintained, the colony will soon find itself face to face with an aunual expenditure from the public Treasury of from four to five hundred thousand pounds upon primary education alone, exclusive of the cost of the Department of Education, and of the sums appropriate.! annually for higher and secoudaay education. This appears to me to be really a very serious consideration The expenditure on primary eiucatiou will soon amount to nearly £1 per head of the whole population, nnd the consolidated revenue alone will be quite unable to bear suoh a charge without considerable addition to the general public burdens. Of course, if the people of New Zealand desire education of this expensive class free, and are prepared to submit to the necessary taxa cion, there is an end of the matter ; but I doubt whether the position we are drifting into in this respect hasasyat b^en generally realised. When discussing this question a few weeks ago we suggested that some relief would be obtained by charging a nominal amount for each child educated. We said : — If the nominal sum of say £1 per head per annum were charged for each child attending school, the revenue would thus be inoreased to the extent of £80,000 (assuming the average attendance at 80,(>00), and we maintain that it would be perfeotly right that parents should be made to recognise their responsibility by paying that sum. These views appear to be in perfect accord with those of the Governor, who said in his address : — It appears to me a great pity that all looal sources of revenue — such as school fees and school rates— were extinguished by the Education Act, and the whole cost of primary education thus thrown on the consolidated revenue. Such a course has not merely sacrificed a considerable atrount of much needed revenue, but its inevitable tendency is, I believe, to deaden purental responsibility, to encourage irregular attendance, and to weaken the feeling of self-reliance by teaching people to look to the State for everything (Loud applauße.) I have never been able to see myself why attendance should not be compulsory, and a small fee at the same time charged in all oases in whioh the parents can afford it. This is the course adopted in England ; and also in the neighboring colony of New South Wales, where the fees last year amounted to

about £1 for every child in average daily attendance, and contributed nearly twentyfive per cent, towards the total ordinary expenditure. After quoting several authorities against free schooling, His Excellency went on to say : — But if a return to the system of school fees is impracticable, the next best thing to my mind would be that the publio schools should be, in part at all events, supported by looal rates. I think that it will always be expedient to continue to pay some considerable portion of tha ordinary expenditure out of the general revenue, in order to ensure effective supervision. (Applause.) But if fees are not levied, some part of the ordinary expenditure, and the whole cost of buildings, should be provided locally — the ratepayers being alllowed to elect the Eduoation Boards. (Applause.) School rates, doubtless, would not be as good as fees aB far as the teachers are ooneerned, but they would have the same effect in bringing home to parents a sense of their obligations, and the system would provide a remedy for the constitutional anomaly involved in the existing arrangement under which the whole of the vast sum required for primary education is raised by one body, and administered by another. -His Excellency then proceeded to tbfer to the compulsory clautes and the question of having the Bible read in the schools, strongly advocating the latter course, on the ground that morality is inseparably wedded to religion, and that there can be no true religion without a distinct revelation of the Divine will such as is contained in the Bible. We have not space to devote further attention to the consideration of this address, which we regard as in every way a most valuable criticism upon our educational system. That the words of warniug regarding the costliness of our system uttered by His Excellency will have a great effect ou the taxpayers we have no doubt. His views are worthy of deep consideration, for excessive costliness will probably do more to disintegrate our national system of education than any other influence that can be brought to bear.