New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, June 23, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 406, 23 June 1849, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, June 23, 1849.

In referring, on a former occasion, to the address of the Legislative Council to the Lieutenant-Govtrnor on the suhject of education, and to the subsequent discussion on this question, we expressed our general approval of the existing Education Ordinance, and animadverted on the course pursued in the Legislative Council. The report of the Committee on Education, which has since been brought up, contains so niuch that is objectionable that, notwithstanding the Lieutenant- Governor's refusal to act in accordance with its recommendations has rendered it innocuous, we feel bound to notice briefly some of its most palpable errors. We shall confine the remarks we are about to make almost exclusively to the resolutions of the committee, both because they may be supposed to embody all the essential points of the subject, and because the report itself is not very luminous or intelligible ; indeed, in a document drawn up on the subject of education, it is not unreasonable to expect that the authors of it should themselves have exhibited some of the results of education, but we find them, throughout the report using the pronouns "we" and- "they" indiscriminately to express the' same persons ; we may, however, leave these small matters for graver objections which claim our attention. We have already shewn that the object proposed to itself by the state in the education of its subjects, is the protection of life and property, the well being and security of the state ; that this can only be effected by educing the moral principle which exists potentially i in all ; and that, as Christians, we believe that this moral principle can only be developed, cultivated, and brought to maturity by a belief in the Christian religio \ and consequently that it is the duty of the state to provide, so far as its means will allow, for the education of ail its subjects, in the knowledge, belief, and duties of Christianity with a view to this end. We likewise expressed our opinion that it is not the duty of the state to provide for the religious education of the people with a view to their spiritual and eternal interests, this ; being the duty of the Church and not of the Government. We have further admitted that the state may give its support to different religious bodies, at least to all such as hold no immoral tenets, of which we have here little need to fear. We have moreover expressly denied the obligation of the state to burden itself with the responsibility of teaching individuals those peculiar callings which enable them to gain their livelihood, such a course having a greater tendency to repress individual exertion than to produce any corresponding advantage. Such, briefly, are our opinions. All the errors of the report seem to flow from two ladical ones, namely — compulsory education, and an anxiety to consult the morbid sensibility of the few rationalists, or infidels who may, or are supposed to* be found in each community, at the expense of the Christian feeling of the vastly preponderating majority. According to resolution 3 an objection is raided to the existing Ordinance because no provision is made for the education of those not included in the Ordinance. The objection is plausible, «but not valid, because the denominations included in the Ordinance comprise the great bulk of the population, those not included being but a small fraction ; this is an evil that cannot be avoided ; de minimis non curat lex. When the smaller sects increase in number and importance, there is no redsori why they should not be iiicluded. ' At present, the small sum they wbuld be 5 entitled "to, according to the

relative amount of population in each denomination, would be useless. Besides, under the system recommended in the report, (as under every conceivable system) this must be the case, for in whatever way the majority in any particular district determine, the minority would be equally excluded, because the teacher appointed will doubtless represent the opinions of the majority. Resolution 6is arbitrary and unconstitutional ; we doubt the power of the Council to impose direct taxation for the purpose contemplated in the report. The same objection may be made to resolution 12, while to inflict a penalty on a poor Christian man, already subject to the annual payment of one pound, because he will uot trust his infant children to the instruction of a person whose indispensable qualification for his office is that he belongs to no denomination of Christians, is entirely 7 opposed to the spirit of civil and religious liberty. Resolution 11 is a gross absurdity. How any rational man could write such nonsense is to us a mystery. What does it say? " That the education to be given in the District schools shall not include instruction in the peculiar distinguishing doctrines of any denomination of Christians." But if the peculiar distinguishing doctrines of all denominations are excluded what will be left ? What sort of Christianity can that be which shall contain none of these doctrines ? Is Christianity an abstraction ? Or, are we, with the realists, to attribute to it an existence apart from its manifestation in any particular form ? And where is the nondescript to be found, who shall be at the same time a Christian and yet belong to no denomination of Christians ? We might have more hope of finding a live moa than such a being. Notwithstanding, then, the soft sawder contained in theßeport, namely, " the belief that it would be unwise to separate religious from intellectual training," such a resolution can only be traced to a latent infidel tendency in its originator, and, as usual, tacitly acquiesced in by those who have neither the knowledge nor the courage to expose its pernicious object. There is a passage in the report itself, which we cannot pass' over : — *• to the inquiry how far the child shall be instructed in his duty as a Christian, we reply that it should be to as great an extent as the peculiar religious tenets of his parents will allow/ We maintain that the only object the state has in the education of its subjects is to improve their morality, and that that can only be effected through the medium of the Christian religion. If therefore parents will not allow their children to be so educated the State can have no inducement to give them mere intellectual instruction, which is a mere personal accomplishment and not requisite for the well being of the State; But we cannot stop to analyse all the .nonsense involved in this sentence. We will, however, examine how far the recommendation it contains is practicable, for that, after all, is what is most easily understood and appreciated and, in these days of vague and misty theories, most needed. If Christianity is to be taught at all, it must be taught by each master according to his own views, whatever they may be. But let us suppose (what indeed is an impossibility) that the Phoenix sought after could be found ; that a master could be obtained thoroughly conversant with all the distinct tenets of every possible sect, he must, when he, descends from theory to practice. — when he comes to teach, classify his pupils according to their age and ability ; how then could he, with the best intention, give different religious in* struction to each child without clashing with the peculiar tenets of the sect to which he belonged, without this religious instruction being heard by the other children in the class ? This would be impossible, as we have above shewn, unless Christianity is to be pared downWriothlng.-Ms to be brought before children. as an abstraction, when the abstract form of thinking requires the highest powers of the cultivated mind. Bat such a system would necessarily imply the separate instruction of the children,' or at east their division mto 1 classes according to their particular sects* and not according to

their mental powers and capabilities, which would unquestionably engender more sectarian feeling than any other conceivable plan. Could such a plan be proposed by any but superficial theorists who have never devoted their attention to the subject on which they would attempt to legislate ? We are glad to say that the LieutenimtGovernor has shewn his wisdom by refusing to introduce a bill embodying such a congeries of crudities as that contained in the report. Nothing, however, could be more lamentable, nothing could be more unbecoming than the petulance and childish vexation exhibited by the framers of the report on learning the Lieutenant- Governor's reply. Though they had already recommended that one half the proposed grant should be devoted to the education of the Maori population, according to the provisions of the existing education ordinance, they lose their temper, stultify their own recommendation, and, because they disagree about the disposal of the other half for the education of the white population, refuse to vote any portion ! of the grant, thus throwing an impediment in the way of that which is of the highest importance, and on which confessedly all are agreed. But we must defer the consideration of this part of the subject to our next number.

A desperate attempt was made on the night of June 11th by a gang of ruffians to break into the house of Mr. Guard at Cloudy Bay. One of the robbers effected, an entrance into the premises, and on Mr. Guard's entering the store with a candle he was fired at by the robber, the ball passing close to his person. Towards the morning the men went away, and Mr. Guard came over to Wellington on Monday last for the purpose of obtaining the assistance of the Resident Magistiate, which was promptly afforded. Yesterday Mr. Guard returned to Cloudy Bay in his schooner the Old Jock, accompanied by Mr. M'Donogh, the SubInspector, and a party of the Police, through whose exertions we hope the miscreants may be apprehended and brought to justice.

On Wednesday morning the tide (from the effect of the south-east wind acting on a spring tide) rose to an unusual height ; all that part of Lamhton Quay near Mr. Taine's store, was overflowed by the sea. The weather during the last few days has been cold and bracing, on Thursday night there was ri sharp frost, ice being found the next morning in several places in Wellington a quarter of an inch thick.