Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5794, 24 October 1879, Page 2

“You must break eggs if you want * omelettes.” The old French proverb to the above effect has received a fresh exemplification in the following petition, a copy of which wo have received from Mr. C. A. Curtis, of the Te Aro Grammar School, Wellington :

To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives, in Parliament assembled. The petition of Cecil Augustus Curtis, of the City of Wellington, humbly showeth,— 1. That in 1870 your petitioner established a school, known as the Te Aro Grammar and Commercial School. That the said school, during a course of years, supplied a certain want, and was maintained in a state of efficiency at very great expense.

2. That the Education Act now in force does, whilst it provides an elaborate free school system, completely ignore the past services of the private schools of the colony. Further, that public institutions for higher education are empowered, by reason of munificent endowments and grants of large sums of public money, to reduce their fees for admission to a minimum.

3. That by these measures Parliament virtually did prohibit all healthy competition, thereby inflicting a grievous wrong upon existing private enterprise, and ultimately did force your petitioner, among others, into the Bankruptcy Court. 4. That your petitioner has innocently bled for and admired his country. Wherefore your petitioner most humbly prays your honorable House to examine into the grievance set forth in this petition, and to grant such relief from the hardships under which your petitioner, among others, now suffers, as your honorable House may deem expedient. And your petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.

A few weeks ago we wrote drawing attention to the fact that, at present, many people who could well afford to pay for an expensive education for their children now availed themselves of the elaborate and expensive course of instruction provided by the State “free, gratis, for “ nothing.” It was pointed out that a knowledge of drawing and music was expected from every candidate for the post of teacher. It is true that candidates might pass without any knowledge of those subjects, but the terms of the curriculum required that a want of knowledge of them should be atoned for by superior excellence in other branches. All those who know anything about competitive examinations are aware that with such a proviso attached to any subject, the man who wishes to pass creditably cannot afford to take his chance of atoning for such sins of omission, and had far better make up his mind to “grind “ up ” the extra subjects, even though it cost him some months delay. We believe that the State ought to insist upon full instruction being provided of the “ throe “ R’s,” and no more ; that all those who desire a more liberal education for their children ought to pay for it. We are inclined to believe that some arrangement might be made under which children who had distinguished themselves either for good conduct or by passing creditably at the examinations, should be allowed to attend the extra classes free of expense, if theirparentsrepresented that they were unable to afford the additional cost. But, judging by the ever-growing expensiveness of State education, we incline to the belief that retrenchment under this head will soon be insisted upon by the public, and a less costly system will have to be devised. The above petition tends to show that there has been one class of men whose business has been mined by the action of the State. We have reason to believe that the petitioner had proved himself an efficient schoolmaster in the past, and that but for the State competition his venture might have proved successful. His case appears to be a hard one : but we cannot believe that Mr. Curtis’ claim for compensation has any chance of receiving favorable consideration. His case cannot be singular, and we have given it a degree of prominence simply in order to show that although at present State schools have quite a monopoly of the teaching business their establishment has been largely instrumental in mining those gentlemen who had put capital into the teaching business, without expecting such a formidable rival to enter upon the field of higher education. In many oases, no doubt, the masters of private schools would be able to obtain employment in State schools, but modern requirements differ widely from those of ten or fifteen years ago, and schoolmasters who studied under the old system would find it difficult to pass creditably under the new.