INTERPROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 106, 4 May 1880, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL.

Auckland, Monday. All the members ofithe uivil Service Commission are now here,.' and commenoe tomorrow an examination of the railway works officials. Messrs Hamlin and Haina address their constituents this week. Mr Sheehan addresses hia Thames constituents about Saturday. The beach at Whangarei Heads is thickly strewn with dead schnapper. The cause of their death puzzles the local savants. The larrikin element is increasing. They pulled down and hustled several street preachers last night, chasing them along the main street. The police are quiescent. An information has been laid by Mr Hickley, superintendent of the Industrial Home, againat Constable Adams for an indecent assault on an inmate aged 18 years. The farmers complain ot drought. Tuesday. - The Australia, with the San Francisco mail, has arrived. Passengers for.Auckland; Miss and Mrs Stuarfc, Major aud Mrs

George, Sisters Estall and Angel, Mr and Mrs Burrows, Professor Proctor, Messrs Johnston and Purvis, mail agent, and six in the steerage. Madame Kellar, pianiste, goes to Sydney on a tour. Hokitika, Tuesday. The Railway Commissioners arrived here on Sunday by special coach from Canterbury. It has transpired from the evidence given by Mr Mueller, Chief Surveyor, tbat a new route over the Whiteombe Pass has been discovered, which is about 25 miles shorter than any route yet known between the East and West Coasts. Particulars have been communicated to the head of the Railway Department in Wellington. The Railway Commissioners intend travelling overland to Nelson. Christ CHtrncn, Tuesday. At a meeting held last night the Sydenham Borough Council passed a resolution to call a meeting to protest against the removal of the railway staff to Dunedin. On Saturday night Malcolm Kerr, while turning the head of the bay to Barry's Bay, was thrown from his horse and instantaneously killed. A verdict of accidental death was returned. The Christchurch City Council last night resolved to forward a protest to the Government against the removal of the railway staff. Wellington, Tuesday. In his speech at the opening of the Normal schools, Governor Robinson said he had carefully observed the working of the Educational scheme here and in other countries, and he thought:; the New Zealand scheme admirable in its general design, but defective in one or two details. It was, he believed, the most comprehensive and ambitious scheme of free public instruction yet adopted by any country in the world, but he expressed a doubt whether the programme of primary instruction was not too varied, and likely to prove too costly. Whether, considering tbe very early age at which the majority- of children were removed from school the cramming them with instruction on such a variety of subjects will not'tend to lower the standard of efficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic, subjects' of primary importance, thus substituting a smattering of many subjects for thoroughness in a few. And whether, too, the attempt to provide the machinery for the supply of the whole youthful population of the colony with a free education of the varied and advanced character embraced in the six standards will not entail upon the country an expenditure more heavy than can be borne. He expressed great regret that all local sources of revenue, 6iich as school rates and fees, were done away with. He thought that attendance should be compulsory, and also that a small fee should be charged. He thought that the extent to which the moral training is ignored in the national plan of education is to be regretted ; the compromise regarding Bible reading, adopted at Home and in New South Wales he thought a wise one. He spoke strongly on this "point, quoting a number of authorities a3 to religion being the best foundation of morality. He concluded by saying, " I have thus stated to you frankly what appears to me to be the weak points in your educational plan, namely, that it will entail a larger expenditure than the general revenue can well defray without assistance from local sources, and that the course of instruction prescribed fails to inculcate sufficiently the observance of those moral obligations which are essential to the welfare of society. (Loud applause.) With these exceptions, I think that your scheme of National Education is one of which any country might well feel proud, and that it is • being administered with an earnestness end an ability which is deserving of all praise." Donedin, Tuesday. The ss. John Elder arrived at Aden on May lst. Tiie s.s. Lusitana sailed from Plymouth on May Ist, with 31 . passengers. Invuecargill, Tuesday. Bowtell's bootmakers' shop and Stanford aud Cos. general store at Turnsdeh were burned down this morning. Stanford is insured for £500 in the New Zealand and .£l5O in another office unknown. It is not known if Bowtell, who was from home, is insured. The cause of the fire, which broke out in his shop, is a mystery.