Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. 1905. EDUCATIONAL AND NATIONAL LIFE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3503, 30 March 1905, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. 1905. EDUCATIONAL AND NATIONAL LIFE.

“ In the Mouse Of CdrtliilonS idst night, Mr], Kell'-Hardie raised a discussion relative to underfed school children.” So rnns a cable message from London) detailing the Conditions itildCr which & large proportion of the school children of Great Britain live and endeavour to obtain something of training and knowledge necessary to equip them for the battle of life. One speaker placed the number at not less than Ode million children attending school as Inadequately fed. Sir John Gorst suggested that in areas where distress was prevalent the authorities should provide media for the children and charge the cost to the parents. The Under Secretary for Education (SIR WILLIAM ANSON), while acknowledging that this was a scheme worthy of the fullest consideration, made some pertinent and appropriate remonstrances against the dangers attending its adoption in a general way. He referred to the oft-used and significant argument that too much government aid must surely result in the rearing of a natioa of spoon-feds. No one with any knowledge of the awful miseries of life in the slums of Old World cities can or will deny the plea of the children for help—and) first of all, food ;-but they Will agree with Sir William AnS’jn that rashly taken action will tend to undermine the independence and self-reliance of parents, and so break up family life, It would be but a step to the provision of free meals, and, after that, clothes altd boots. The subject has beau prominently before the English public of late, and Sir John Gorst, in his speeches advocating efforts to end the “ inhumanity of sending hungry boys and girls to school ” he declared it was criminal to make a child who had been without breakfast learn lessons. Undoubtedly. What labouring manhow many of the parents of these hungry school children under notice, we venture to ask—would proceed to his day's work on an empty stomach ? Speaking in a general sense the reply must be that very few would do so. We do not wish to dwell too harshly upon the selfishness ot these parents ; God and man know of many instances of noble sacrifices made by parents for their offspring, to keep them out of the category of those who go hungry to school. And with very few exceptions they succeed. While, therefore, the commonest instinct of humanity demands that these poor lives should be better cared for now, even at the public expense, how much more is it necessary that the defaulting parents should be made to realise and act up to their responsibilities. It may be considered by many a serious indictment, but from the observations of men and women who have lived and worked amidst the hideonsness of the surroundings of these “ submerged tenths" of the Old Country we are convinced that in at least 75 per cent of the cases o{ extreme want parents could by thrift and self-denial have at least secured the necessaries of life for their progeny. It is a far cry from London to New Zealand, and, while : we would not 50 so far as to say there I is no poverty in this colony it can be only in very isolated cases, the people should feel thankful to the all seeing Power that cyders it so. And here, with all due reverence, let us point out that the Great Provider is not, as some little-minded, self-seeking and sordid people would sometimes like to impress upon ns, a mere human government, though such an organisation may be an agency for great good. In this favoured land there exists an educational system which, while open to much improvement, may be looked upon with admiration. But it requires considerable extension. There is a tendency among some people, and too often are these cranks and faddists, to advocate medical inspection of school children—at the public expense. While agreeing that many deformities and afflictions of ocular, aural and nervous systems may be discovered and remedied by this means, we cannot acquiesce in the suggestion that parents should be relieved of the direct responsibility. In very few cases indeed out of the whole number could it be said that parents were unable to afford such an expense. There is also a craze for the enlargement of the sphere of technical and secondary education ; but looking at the question squarely, we must confess to a sense of failure in the concrete results so far. And what are these results, in too many cases ? Simply these. In a small population of less than a million people for the colony too many children acquire a squattering—and how indifferently assimilated this knowledge is may be observed in the replies of 75 per cent of secondary scholars to questions on the 'commonest everyday subjects. Then, too, many children acquire, in addition to ill-digested information, a blase spirit ? which ill accords with the sphere of life in which they are destined to j move, and too often altogether unfits

l-tioiii iur it, iu tiiis respect again may the parental influence be summed up as wanting. Too much is left to an educational system and staff, which, while built upon a sound basis, are being sadly overworked. The only effective remedy is the realisation by the people of their duty to succsedinS generations, and then, perchance, with individual character strengthened, we shall be happy in the possession of a strong and healthy national life.