Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1889. STATE EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 1 October 1889, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1889. STATE EDUCATION.

Everyone who has the good of the colony at heart must be interested in the character of the education given to the children of the settlers, and thereforo anything that causes the question o come prominently to the front, deserves consideration. The Diocesan Synod of the Church of England is now sitting in Wei. lington, and on the motion " That this approves the principle of the Private Schools Bill introduced during the last session of the New Zealand Parliament by the member for Dunstan," some discussion on the condition of the !■ tate Schools took place. The purpose of the Pi 1 referred to was to permit of denominational schools being established, partially subsidised, by the Government, but as will be remembered the Bill was not successful in pass no* the House. Those persons, who are not enthusiasts of any par icular denomination, are not annoyed -\t the non-success of the Bill, though a large number, believing in the earnestness of the desire of the denominationalists, were wi ling to accept the Hill if it had been rnssed. The purpose of this motion in the Synod is with a view to awaken the interest of the members of the o'iurch of Engl nd to agitato, during the next general c ection, for promises from candidates of their support to the principles laH down in the Bill introduced by the member for the Dunstan. AYe are not going to review the reasons stated by the minor members of the Synod, but

vri £jel bound to set f'tirik ttie 1 extraordinary ideas held by the President as to the education imparted at the G-ororninent schools, as we believe the want of success, admitted by himself, iii Se-ciirlii^ diviiniedd action fxjv denominationa ism, is most probably attributive to the exceediagly erroneous ideas lie has of the value derivoable from the present system. It is imperative that fhe ttgltaioife against nn established institution, should, be thoroughly acquainted witu the working rif'tf, p'tKentise their case is bound to be ufidty ab.fi'ken when the inaccuries of their state- 1 ments are easily shown up. The President of the Synod, is the Primate of New Zealand, and his voice in any cause *hould be valued, but we cannot congratulate him oil tile remarks ho concluded his speech, which were as follows :— « jf he wero aiJOormanllGwduitt iidi aldvr his chidron to attfmd secular schoo s Ho was surprised that the public submitted to such a weak, miserable, system It was absurd to see a lot of children about five years old taught geology and chemistry and other tilings they could not understand, and finally turned out nnable to write decently, while their spelling might represent any languago but English." An everyday occurrence, as to the value of the instructi v obtained by our children at these schools, enables every parent to pass the statements made as being so absurd that the speaker could not | have troubled himself to have made tlw slightest enqu ry, and thus value his other remarks by the same standard. The statement that "if ho were a poor man he would not allow his children to attend secular schools « deserves further explanation from him, the Primate of his church, as what would be now the position of the poor man's children, if he had acted upon the advice tendered Simply because the rich men of the » hurcb. of England were so indifferent to the interests of their church that even the Primate had been un-.ble to excite them to action, the poor man was to stand idly by and let his children grow up in ignorance. The church has no right to assert that the poor members are to sacrifice their children, when the Primate cannot even touch the pockets of the richer members. Fortunately the poor man acted more w isely.