The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5536, 24 December 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1878.

To all those who have the welfare of the community at heart the amount of public interest lately displayed in the progress of education throughout the colony must be very gratifying. A better or more hopeful sign of a healthy system having been introduced could hardly be cited than the fact that not only the parents and friends of the scholars have been interested in the proceedings at the school examinations, but especially the members of the local school committees. The severest test of a real practical zeal in a cause is the willingness to subscribe towards the object in view. The way in which the general public have unostentatiously come forward to increase the value of the prizes offerod, shows that they wish to prove their sympathy and to add every inducement in their power to increase the efforts of the scholars. It is even more satisfactory to note that the members of the school committees have given that which is of more value than monetary subscriptions, viz., their time and thoughtful attention. That these are bearing fruit may be seen by a reference to the returns published in the report of the Minister of Education on the subject, from which it appears that whereas the average daily attendance during the year 1877 was 40,837 scholars, during the last quarter it had risen to 41,773. That this growth in the average daily attendance is likely to prove progressive, and may be expected to give astonishing results in the course of a few years, may fairly be deduced from the experience of the working of a somewhat similar system in the sister colony of Viotoria. Prom the statistics published in that colony, we learn that in 1872 the average daily attendance of scholars was 68,436 ; in 1877 it had risen up to 116,015, or very nearly doubled in five years. For all practical purposes of comparison the population oT~ New Zealand, may be taken gas being just half that of Victoria. The children in New Zealand schools, judged by the experience to be derived from Victorian statistics, may be expected very shortly to number about 60,000 scholars. This chance is rendered almost a certainty by the fact that the proportion between the number of children on the rolls and the average daily attendance is about the same in both colonies. The number of children on the rolls in New Zealand is as yet smaller than might reasonably be expected, but the following extract from the leport on education accounts for this:—"But the provision " thus made by leasing halls, &c, is " both inadequate and unsatisfactory, " and nothing short of a large extension " of the present schools, and the addition " of one or two new ones, can meet the " urgent wants of the city. In all the " larger- towns and villages the state of " circumstances as regards increase of " attendance and insufficiency of accom- " modation is more or less the same, and " the temporary leasing of halls has had " to be resorted to." Having thus glanced at the present condition of New Zealand, as compared with Victoria, it is reassuring to learn that Professor Pearson's report on the system of education as adopted in Victoria, deprecates the largo powers vested iu the central authority, and strongly recommends increased powers being given to the Boards of Advice, the Victorian equivalent to the Local Committees here. In New Zealand the powers placed in the hands of committees are greater than those vested in the kindred bodies in Victoria, and the interest displayed in the examinations just passed, and the great exertions made by the committees up to the present, prove thatthereisalarge amountof vitalityin the systemintroducod. In up-country districts the. members of the school committees come together to discuss questions affecting the interests of the school under great difficulties. Distance and bad roads render theii' attendance difficult; but though they may exercise an Englishman's privilege and grumble about the trouble and loss of time entailed, they nearly always meet and transact the business brought before them on the date fixed. It is quite possible, owing to the physical difficulties present in New Zealand, that for some few years to come the average daily attendance in our schools will not be quite so high as that of our older neighbors, as the report on education admits that the question of providing for the school education of children in sparsely settled districts is an exceedingly difficult one to solve, and there can be no doubt that the rugged and mountainous nature of many districts makes our task harder than that of other more favored countries. Admitting the efforts made by all classes of the community, irrespective of religious belief, the prize for zeal in providing education to those in want of it would probably be awarded by general consent to the Roman Catholics among us. That this is true not only in Wellington but also elsewhere may be inferred from..the fact that in the Catholic school in Nelson not long ago more than half the scholars were Protestant children. In Wellington, also, a largo number of the children attending the Convent school do not belong to the Catholic faith. Our Catholic brethren have set us a good oxample, and the zeal they have shown in tho cause of knowledge may wellbe imitated by others. The system adopted shows signs of proving a great success, and tho author of tho Education Act maybe congratulated upon having introduced a law which appears likely to meet the requirements of the colony.