New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4921, 30 December 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30.

The Christchurch ’ Star of December contains a leading article which professes to discus? the legality of the late prorogation of Parliament, but which really, simply abuses the New,Zealand Times in a 'style wherein billingsgate and ponderous 1 levity strive for the mastery. The evening , Star is a mere replica in minimum of the Lyttelton. Times, in which; cheapness ancl the, proverbial nastiness that accompany it are combined as far as possible. It is'published at the office of the latter, and, to use the words of a fellow-journalist, is merely a “.newsless,useless, repulsive , daily dilution ” of the Lyttelton Times, flavored every' now and then with scraps of indecency stolen, from the lower forms of American journalism, and which are intended, we presume, .to appeal to,* the taste of the constituency; it would claim for itself, as distinct from its morning parent, for in this-respect alone does the child differ from its progenitor. We have no desire to bandy vituperation with either, the Lyttelton Times or Star, and are content, therefore, to let their syntactical and sloppy onslaughts on the ■ New Zealand Times pass without notice. They are unable to teach us anything in constitutional law; but to their knowledge of the most vulgar form of personal discussion we at once, yield, and will permit them to remain masters in an arerta wherein wehave no desire to contend. If, however, they will be content to take up any one of the positions we have adopted, on what is now knownasthe ‘‘ConstitutionalQuestion,” we shall be most happy to discuss (the matter with - them, at the same time reminding them that the discussion of a question of constitutional law involves: neither the use of language suited to the atmosphere of the Old Bailey, nor the forms of procedure common amongst bulldog lawyers. Indeed in this respect the 1 Times and Star might take example from the gentleman 1 whose cause in regard to the Constitutional Question they champion. Mr. Travers has indulged in a certain amount of petulance, and has not been able altogether tb‘free himself from the little impertinences which seem to be necessarily incident to the discussion of any question by a ,lawyer, but he has been neither coarse, i personal, nor abusive. He has addres°"' 1 • another letter Slib j ect occu . gma 'u ghajg 0 f public jattention,, I and it will be found printed in another column. Mr. Travers has j evidently been induced to reconsider his decision not to. write any more on this question. We are happy in affording him every possible opportunity to ventilate his opinions, the more so because it is evident that he has awakened to the Conclusion that a former letter, which he announced as his last, has failed to convince the public that his arguments were Vorth anything. This being the case, he has found it plainly necessary to give us a few more opinions on constitutional law, which' it is pleasant to know can be only,according to some unpublished work oh the subject by W. T. L. Travers, as they are diametrically opposed to albcompetehf authorities. However, we do not so much object to this as to the calm statement of the case pro and con with which Mr. Travers opens his letter. He very coolly tells us what our position is, and then proceeds to inform us of his own. If he had said that such and such seemed to him to be our position, he would have written within reason, and confined himself to fact. For the rest, Mr, Travers, as wo have said, is evidently distrustful of the soundness of the arguments he has used in former letters,- and now proceeds to quote a case which occurred in the Island of Grenada, and which has no more bearing on the question at issue than a statement of the causes of the American revolution would have. Mr. Travers’ argument, if it amounts to anything, „ amounts simply to this, that because the granting of . a Constitution arid 'Representative (xovernment to a colony does'away with the power of Imperial taxation, therefore the Marquis of ,N ormanby, tlirough his, advisers, had no right to prorogue Parliament in the manner in which it has been recently done. -We shall .-look ~teh Mr.! Thayers to prove that connection, between Tenterden Steeple and Goodwin Sands , i' which old-folks’tales!-have alleged, but which > science. and sense < have ; generally rejected. At the’ same time, Mr. Travers having been good enough to quote ’ cases 'arid to argue after;a fashion, when we return : to; this subject we shall be happy to' reason with him’dven more precisely. But- at present we may be content with pointing out the great error into, whicji Mr. ' jTRAVERS and those who support. him have fallen all through'. They-havo-.disoussed this question too much out of the light of practice at, or, -experience! in, common law ; and whilst no doubt they might have a protnisirig case with which to go 1, before a Resident Magistrate’s Court and puzzle a few Justices of the Peace, they have literally not a leg to stand upon before that broad and comprehensive interpretation which is necessary (in points of ... constitutional law.. Mr. Travers knows this, we believe, as well as wo do; and knowing that an ultimate tribunal would decide against ’him, whilst he must be doubtful of success even in an initiatory process, we can only regret, with the little boy who learned the alphabet, that he should have taken so much trouble to find out so little, '

by several persons. That, however, was a matter which we could not help. We had in the public interests set ourselves a certain task to do, and we did it with as much (consideration -for the feelings of others as possible. What we now wish to . direct attention to is the very remarkable contrast which the Wellington s College ■ presents to other public educational- institutions in our midst. • This will be seen; by the citation of a few. facts. The cost of the Wellington College is only two or three hundreds short of £4OOO per annum, and for this- some 120 boys receive an education only what would be called better in some one or two respects than that imparted in the common schools of the colony,' and not one-whit better, we make bold to aver, to fit young people in general for the life they are to lead as industrious citizens than that given in the common schools. Now, under these . • circumstances, , it is interesting to some facts in connection with these common schools. At a cost -in round numbers of £2500 some 1200 oi 1300 children are educated in,them. ■ Well, for the sake of argument, let us for the

moment grant that the article education disposed of at the Wellington College is of the most superfine quality, and that those; who purchase it at the common schools obtain it of a coarser kind though no less useful for the ordinary purposes of life. Still from a business point of view it does at once strike us that the country has got to pay rather too dearly in order to enable those people who require the superfine article to get it at a less price than they would be compelled to pay for it under the ordinary cir-' cumatanoes of .trade. For thero -can be little doubt but that the ’ great majority of pupils at institutions such as, the Wellington Colege are the children of parents who can afford to and would under any circurixstances give their children a similar education to that which the College provides. Well, perhaps in reason then it may not be very glaringly, wrong that the public purse should ' provide at a scale of limited cheapness for what these people would otherwise have to pay the full price; .though even that we are not altogether prepared to admit. But that the public purse should contribute to maintain such an enormous' anomaly as that now existing in , Wellington, is simply a great wrong, and . one that should not be tolerated for an instant. This is all the more the, case because as a matter of fact the education provided at the ordinary State schools in the city is an excellent one, arid the masters of those schools are gentlemen ,of high professional attainriients and extensive experience. And yet whilst these gentlemen, at a cost to the public of some ‘£2500, educate 1300 pupils, it costs nearly £4OOO to educate 120 at that highly superior institution the Wellington College..