PUBLIC, MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 219, 15 September 1871, Page 2

PUBLIC, MEETING.

A public meeting for the purpose of discussing the resolutions adopted by the Central Board with reference to the Education Bill, was held at the Provincial Hall last night. Mr. Simmons having been voted to the Chair, called upon Mr. J. C. Richmond, who said that he had been requested by hid colleagues in the Local Committee to address the meeting, and as he had moved in the matter of Education in the Assembly last year, he was glad to have ibis opportunity of setting himself right Tvith the public on a subject, his opinions regard to which had been somewhat misrepresented by Mr. Fox, who had stated, that the present Bill was founded on resolutions he.(Mr.Richmond)had brought forward last session. Having read the memorial agreed to by the Central Board, he went on to say "that he thought the Board had done. .well, in adopting so moderate a lone, and that ty would have been iv the- highest degree -narrow and) ungracious if, although wishing to retain our Provincial system,- it had gone headlong against a measure which proposed to provide for the deficiencies in educational' machinery in other provinces. Having expressed his general- concurrence with the resolutions, theadoption of which he was about to move, he went on to show frrwhat way the Bill diverged from his resolutions ;of last. year. First, /he had proposed that all., existing machinery should be left untouched, with the exception inspection, and if such mr spection showed that the machinery was faulty then the Colonial .. Govern men t should step in and. see. that the deficiencies were remedied. The new Bill, on the contrary, proposed to commence by making the most, sweeping repeals. Again, with regard to finance bethought that the General Government should find the funds,, as between the Provincial and Colonial stools there was a danger of education falling to the ground, as even those provinces that were willing to promote education might find themselves unable to do so from want of the necessary funds. Last session it became absolutely" clear that such an event was likely to; occur, and the financial statement just .: made showed that those - apprehensions were well founded. It h^d come to this, that the allowances to^the whole of the provinces under the present . proposal would not exceed £195,000, while the interest on the provincial loans amounted to exactly the same sum,; t; therefbre, nothing was to be, expected from the colonial purse in aid of local wants. Nelson, it was true, had not much interest to provide for, but still the danger was apparent, and this justifies 'the Central Board in not entirely repudiating a measure^ which w,ou[d, eventually; transfer the; fin ding: "of fuqds, for educational purposes to' the colonial revenue. He objected too, to the proposed alteration in, the constitution^.,. of,, ; the Central Boara^as' ir^as far better" that the membeVs ' shouio! "'be elected as at present, tßaoCthii^hreyshoufd be iioniiinated by the Provincial Council. There was another point in .which the' kelson' 'j^clr? worked'weir, namely, it gave the right to bodies such as the Catholics to demand ;aid; t foc^theiri jßchools/wlfereris th6 ;}iMfih Bill proposed 't'liatf IV sftbuld^be optional with,,thq i G,pyernmeptr/or the time being to grant orrefusersuchaid; . He. had at. one time appro^efypfj^tjl^ he xio^a^»^Bt) i&to&w mistake, &t$ believed that, me, number of matter in which the Government should have dis-

cretionary powers should be jreduced to a minimum. x i|' . "V;'f '.^X^-' Mjst^iGZEL^fiecoDded. thiß resolution. U Tlw-jßev^ PRGaldeb j^jfeed substanJ^^wH^Sf c w ut^>sM^ c P old not uo so with all tnat baa\fiuenfrom Mr. Richmond. He would likef^robe understood that be by nomeans wished to coadema the Government Bill, indeed be thought that the greatest credit was due to them for bringing it forward in so earnest a manner. It was capable of improvement, bat as airhole; he cordially agreed with it. He should be sorry to see any action taken to show that Nelson objected to it as a whole, but at the same time' he thought that we had a right to ask that our system might be left to us intact. The Bishop of Nelson thought that they had been most fortunate in haying the opportunity of hearing the opinions of a gentleman who was entitled to such praise for the action be bad taken in /this matter as Mr. Richmond. It was the most important subject that could posaibly.be legislated upon, but he feared that sufficient interest was' not taken in it. He should have liked to see, before the introduction of the Bill, a Commission of Enquiry, the result of which, he was sure, would have been that recommendations For remainder of news aeejbwth page.

would have been made to the effect that wherever a system was working well the Government should attempt to strengthen, not to alter it. Bat the Government, and" all who thought upon the matter, felt that should be no longer delay. Some-, "thing 'must be done at once, as every year 'allowed to pass without attending to the education of the rising generation, must add to the troubles in store for us. He liked a variety in opinions, and felt that the general liberty to every man to think and to speak for himself was the readiest manner in which to arrive at the truth. For this he approved of the Nelson system as, although it might not present a clear front of uniformity, still it allowed all classes to bring their opinions to bear upon the best method of working it. He was . glad to have an opportunity of expressing' his views on. this subject, which he believed had hitherto been completely misunderstood. He had no fault whatever to find with the system, all depended on [the working of it. If it was fairly, honestly, and candidly carried out, it would certainly succeed, but it could not bear every strain that was put upon it. What he wanted was to see it carried out on the principles of its primary construction. The interpretation of the Nelson system must not be taken from current opinions, but from that point of view from which it was originallysketched "out. He was confident that if it was carried out fairly it would accomplish all that he and those who thought : with him could possibly wish. Mr. Curtis, he found, had stated in the House that the question of religious education was in Nelson thrown entirely upon the Local Committees. He was very glad that such was the case; this was one of the . great merits of the system, but he wanted to see an earnest desire on the part of the Committees that the children should receive religious instruction; it was not enough for them to say that such should be the case, but if they arrived at such a conclusion as the result of earnest conviction, then there was no doubt that it would be carried out. With regard to the Central Board, he should not like to see any change in its constitution. He wished that those present could have seen the manner in which the new Bill was discussed at that Board. Had they done so,, he felt sure that they would have said, "If these gentlemen take the trouble to go into these matters so calmly, so earnestly, and with so much consideration, we certainly cannot afford to lose such machinery as that." He could see no objection to a Minister of Education, as he thought a special department would be necessary, but what we wanted to avoid was the making the schoolmasters a body of men dependant upon the Government. They most be freed from all political influences. With the views he enter.tamed, he had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. Mr. Richmond wished to say a few words with reference to the political element in the proposed system. He was far from saying that a Ministerial department must necessarily be injurious, but as the Bill was at present framed he thought -it would be exceedingly dangerous, as; leaving altogether too much power with the Government. The central administra-; tion ho would like to see left to the: Council of the University, a body which; eventually would embrace the most highly cultivated men in the colony, but of course a non-political body could not be placed in charge- of the funds. Whatever powers the Government was to possess should be most clearly defined in the Act. He had no desire whatever to oppose the Bill but merely- wished to see it modified. J : Mr. Graham thought the Bishop had cast an unjust imputation upon the ratepayers in saying that they took but little interest in this matter. The thinness of the attendance was, he believed, to be accounted for by the very short notice given by the Committee. Mr. Percy wished to relieve the Local Committee from any charge of not consulting the convenience of the ratepayers. On Monday the Central Board framed the memorial, and on Tuesday the Local Committee met and agreed to call a public meeting. At first, Friday was spoken of, but it wasfound that the Hall had been engaged for that evening, and it was also thought desirable that whatever resolutions were adopted should be taken to Wellington by the Inspector of schools who was going in the Taranaki, then hourly expected. The meeting was accordingly advertised in Wednesday night's paper. The resolutions were then put to the meeting, and carried unanimously. Mr. Hibble moved,, and the Bishop opJSblson seconded, a vote; of thanks to Mr.'J. & Richmond for the large interest lie had Jinvariably taken in the "cause of education. Mr. Richmond having replied, the customary vote of thanks to the chairman •was proposed by Mr. Goulandji and the meeting broke up. .

The soft goods men of Dunedio, fearing aa additional duty, have made extensive clearances of late. On Monday last £1400 worth of drapery was "disposed of." Latest from Auckland. — We take the following Auckland telegrams, dated sth inst. from our Wellington exchanges : — The Caledonian has declared a dividend of £3, and the Nonpareil, one of Bs.— The schooner Rifleman, for Chatham Islands, was wrecked at Blind Bay, Great Barrier. All hands were : saved: — Clarke Bros, report Caledonians, £145; Thames, £27 10s;, Tookeys, £34; Nonpareil, £5 ss; Moanatdiri, £4 15s; Otago, £4 2s 6d; Central Italy, £2 ss. At a Cabinet Council held on Monday j last his Excellency was plensed to ! commute the seutence of death, passed on M'Donald, of Wanganui, for murder, to, penal servitude for life. On the news being communicated to him he seemed for some time hardly able to realise the escape from death that he had had ; and it was with some trouble that Mr. Read, the governor of the gaol, was able to convince him that his life was really spared. Since he received his sentence, M'Donald has exhibited the utmost dread of death — to that. degree : indeed; that his reason was feared for. The re-action will, no doubt affect him deeply. — Post. ' ; Charleston and the Education Bill. — The Westport Times of September 7 ga y 8 : — « The Protestant education meetiDg convened by the Eev. Messrs. Flaveli and White, was held at the Public Library, on Tuesday evening. Mr. Broad was voted to the chair. The speakers were the Rev. Messrs. Flaveli and White, Messrs. Burcham, Walker, Jones, arid Graham Greenwood. The Rev. . Mr. White's resolution was carried, " That in the opinion of this meeting the provisions of the Nelson Education Act are working admirably, and should be preserved intact in any Act of the General Assembly, with the addition that education should become compulsory." The. meeting was well attended, and the speakers were warmly applauded. Rumored Change in the Ministry. — The Wellington Post is responsible for the following : — " We have reason to believe that the days of the Ministry, as at present formed, are nearly numbered, unless the forthcoming, statement eaves them, and how it cau is doubtful. The nucleus of an organised Opposition has, we hear on good authority, been formed, and according to present calculatfon, can count on thirty-six adherents certain, besides waverers, who will probably make the three dozen a majority. Action is delayed en grounds that are not necessary to publish, but that the battle will shortly commence in earnest there is no doubt. ' The probalities of a Coalition Ministry without the present Premier are increasing, though it is of course impossible to speculate, with any degree of certainty, as lo the form that the reconstruction will take. That such will be, or that the whole Ministry will be ejected within a few. weeks, seems rapidly to be approaching to certainty.