THE GOVERNOR ON EDUCATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1271, 4 May 1880, Page 2

THE GOVERNOR ON EDUCATION.

[BY teweqrapb,]

Welmngtoht, May 4. / In vhis speech at the opening of tho Normal School, Governor Robinson said that he had carefully observed the work*

log of the educational scheme here and i other countries. He thought the Kei Zealand scheme admirable in genera design, bat defective in one or tw details. It was, he believed, a mos comprehensive and ambitions scheme fo free public instruction yet adopted by an] country in the world. Bat he expresses #doubt whether the programme of pri nary instruction was not too varied ant likely to prove too costly. Considering the very early age at which tie majority of children are removed from school, the cramming of -them with instruction in such a variety of subjects would tend to lower the standard of their efficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic — objects of primary importance. Thus, substituting a smattering of many "objects for thoroughness in a few. He also doubted whether, too, the attempt to provide machinery for supplying the whole of the youthful population of the Colony with free education of a varied and advanced character, embraced in 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, such as school rates and fees, were done away with. He thought that attendance should be compulsory, and that a gnKill fee should be charged. He thought that the extent to which 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 as to religion being the beat foundation of morality. He conclnded by saying:—"l have thus stated to you frankly what appear 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 thus the coarse of instruction prescribed fails to inculcate sufficiently the observance of those moral obligations which are essential to the welfare of society. (Load applause.) With these exceptions, I think that your scheme of national education is # one of which any country might well feel proad, and that it is being administered with an earnestness and an ability which is deserving of all praise.