Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE, 4, 1889. MR WILSON M.H.R.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 271, 4 June 1889, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE, 4, 1889. MR WILSON M.H.R.

The address delivered to : his con* stituents by Mr Wilson last Thursday, contained very little that wa pe.^or startling bi^t that little was very'important. ' No one has so often professed his belief in our Education system as Mr Wi son, and it was his strong disinclination to really grapple with luoh a troubUfmn* £UMttoa

that ledj.to Ws being 1 bpgdsdd sd strongly at, .the . last, election; 'It Ik all alteredriow, evennis very s,taunoh champion, the Mayor of 'Foxton, publicly statdd that he, had never heard of our member having- 1 taken so much trouble and made so much research, as he had made olear.that nighthehad done, and that it was most gratifying; to him. We may say that we are sure the Mayor onty represented.his audience when ha made his remarks, a^ ; the chief point of interestyn.the address was that portion touching on education. We have in common with other taxpayer*; raised our jvoice.,as to . % costlialss ..and unfairness of the" system, and how much more advantage the .toAros derive Irom than the country distrusts do;" but though this was reechoed by Mr Wilson, it is not the startling which we to draw attention to. Prdviottely, Nothing Would ever move Mr Wilson to admit that the;- present system of secular, education was not all that it should be T and he was too prone to believe that the cry for religious teaming was . merely the, agitation .made .by one of the Church Trodies, .for, p^rpoSes of their own. iOy. Thursday night we had the warning "that our children- as thejfcgrowup, will be us we have taught them," uttered by our' member. He is now convinced that r^igion is necessary for State. To show that we are .in no \iajp misrepresenting! •h»m, Jl we would,.iefer to the notice of motion given By himiri Parliament, whereby he recommended 'that a .subsidy of one p -und per pupil should te paid to any school of fifty members, if subject to proper-- inspection. .This was caused Dy the proposal made by a Church of England cjergyman. who had. stated if this subsidy could be obtained, he. would start a school where' religion would; bft ..taught. We -approve of this proposal, not only because it will ease oip th* presr sure on our State schools, '^hsit wity be a biessjngto the children who are able to take advantage of, such es;tablisbnients,. .and, will, m -way meet thecontinued appeals made by the Eoman Catholics, for some consideration", to their conscientious 'objections to a purely secular 1 course of instruction. We say it. is something to have gained Mr Wilson round to this view,- as the other candidate who ran him the closest at the ; la st elec - tion, was to d by some of Mi< Wilson's principal supporters, after be had made a strong appeal for considera-. tion to those who desired religious instruction, that he hoi just 1 lost his electipn by suoh an avowal. The, whirligig of "time prdduoes -aaany changes, ■. and T:j we regret nothing after having gained so much. Besides this view of the question, we approve of many of the^^ejr suggested by Mr Wilson, but we catmot see feom tij^ .p^wtion he de-_ clared himself plftc'ed : ml' %ow ' he" means . .to giva . '^ffeci'.'to : his ; vi6wß. There is ' only " ? oiie way, to treat Education in a similar manner to the way the EaiWays have ■been., . and remove the' 'ffilscussions from Par iament, .but th^n can Mi* Wilson secure support ff'tirbn'g enough to do this ? We ,hope. he may, but fear "he will;not ; but as 'Wg. as -he treads the path he has now mapped out, so long will we reader him all the aid we can to the successful accomplishment of his task.