WAIAPU

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 163, 23 April 1874, Page 2

WAIAPU

[tbom opb own correspondent.] April 18. The Native school-house at Kawa Kuwa has just been completed, and tuitionary duties will De assumed as soon as a master arrives there. The natives in that part of the district, as in other parts of it, are very desirous that their offspring should participate in the advantages of an English primary education, and are consequently looking out for a speedy opening of the school. The chiefs are, with scarcely any exception, taking a leading part in stimulating the people to avail themselves of the means of instruction. One of them in particular— Mr. Henare Potae, of Tokomarua—seems to possess orthodox and enlightened views on the subject. He is in favor of compulsory education —not, indeed, according to the Prussian system, but according to the parental system, which latter authorizes the administration of castigation, if necessary, for the effectual enforcement of it. In his oration at the recent festival given in celebration of the baptism of his grand child, Mr. Potae pointed out in unmistakable language, that parents could rescue their little ones from falling under the bane of ignorance if they liked, by sending them to school; and, if they manifested unwillingness to comply, they were to use the rod as the instrument of compulsion as well as correction. Doubtless, this chief has a good idea of the Scriptural use of the rod in the family ; for Solomon, in his Proverbs, says ; “ He that spareth the rod hateth his son.” It is a pity that there should be any occasion for thus chastising children, but the experience of all ages is ample proof that there is. Aversion to attend school is common enough amongst children; and what is worse, many are averse to learn when they do attend it. Persistence in either of these flagrant acts of disobedience must be visited with punishment, if suasive measures should fail to accomplish the necessary reformation. The great Dr. Johnson, with characteristic honesty, leaves it on record that he would have left school a complete dunce, had he not been frequently subjected to the inflictions of the rod, which, in his case, appears to have been somewhat unmercifully used by one of his teachers, at least. Let the parents of refractory children act upon Henare Potae’s advice, and our schools will always be well attended.

I have perused with unqualified surprise the production purporting to be “ A Good Templar’s Prayer,” which appeared in your issue of the 4th instant, and scarcely know what to say about it; and I have no doubt but many more wLo hav read it are equally astonished and perplexed. It is not positively blasphemous, but it is so appallingly irreverent, so stupidly vague, and so outrageously vulgar in its phraseology—especially the latter part of it—as to engender, at once, a belief in one’s mind that the person who composed it is in an advanced state of lunacy, and may, at no distant day, find himself within the precincts of the recently erected institution at Wellington, where particular care is taken of those who are “ not right in the upper storey.” I cannot think that the Good Templars, as a body, can recognize such a prayer; for if they were to do so, the consequent damage to their Order would be incalculable. I am, therefore, inclined to think" that no one is responsible for the effusion in question, but the author thereof, who, if he is known, should be called to account for thus bringing reproach upon a society of which he is a member. I once heard a local preacher pray for those who resided within a radius of two miles of the place W’here he held forth, but the absurdity of that petition dwindles into insignificance w hen placed in juxta-position with many of the petitions in the prayer under review.

The steamer Luna, with the Commissioner of Lighthouses on board, passed here on Sunday morning last, on her passage to Wellington. She touched at Awanui, where she landed the Resident Magistrate of the Bay of Plenty, Mr. Brabant, who has been the guest of our Resident Magistrate for two or three days. Mr. Brabant, who takes a great interest in Native Schools, visited the school here, and made a very gratifying entry of the proficiency of the pupils in the visitors’ book.

In a few days hence, namely, on the Ist proximo, our Provincial Council will have been in session, audits Collective Wisdom, will be put to the test as to the devisenient of proper and effective measures for the salvation of the province, which, lor some considerable time past, has been in a very anomalous position, as regards financial affairs. Doubtless, the Superintendent and his Executive have given their utmost attention to the subject, since their accession, to office —short as the time has been —and Mr, Williamson having recently had an interview with tne Premier, and other members of the Cabinet, at Wellington, his opening address to the Council may be looked forward to with more than ordinary interest. It is evident that in the present impoverished state of the Provincial Exchequer, the public works which. have been inaugurated by the Provincial Government, and which are in course of progress, must either be completely suspended, or unduly and inconveniently protracted, unless the requisite funds are speedily provided to meet th eir expenditure—a monetary undertaking which appears to be surrounded with no small difficulties, but which, notwithstanding, may be earned out satisfactorily by a well matured and advantageous scheme sanctioned by the Council. A suspension or protraction of any or the whole of those works, however short the period might be, would be attended with adverse consequences to the province, from the fact that they are, without exception, improvements that are urgently needed, and, being so, their early completion is most desirable. Besides the

works that have been already begun, an 1 pa Hally finished, there are many more to be proceeded, with, were means available, so that our provincial representatives must not only make provision for existing works, but also for works that have been projected, but delayed for want of money. It is remarkable that the province of Auckland, which occupies more than half of the North Island, and which contains a population nearly double that of the three provinces of Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, and Taranaki put together, and containing as it does, mineral and other resources scarcely equalled in the colony, should •tow, in the thirty-fourth year of its existence, be found to be in a state of coma, and that, too, at a time when the other provinces—some of which,not nearly so old, so extensive, or so rich in indigenous wealth as Auckland —are in a flourishing condition. What, then, has produced this untoward state of affairs is a question that naturally suggests itself? It could not have been the lack of territory, the lack of resources, nor the lack of population ; for with these handmaids of prosperity we have been well supplied. It must, therefore, have been the lack of self-reliance, or, in other words, the want of energy and perseverance on the part of the province to make the best of the means placed at its disposal for enhancing itself. “ Selfreliance,” says Dr. Franklin, “is the best friend an individual or a country can have; and had individuals and nations relied more upon themselves, and less upon others, there would not be so much misery in the world as there is.” This is sound philosophy, but a philosophy imperfectly understood in the colonies of Australasia, including, of course, our own —hence the incessant craving for Government aid in all directions. The general belief is that every description of work of a pfiblic character, however insignificant, ought to be executed at the expense of the public revenue, forgetting at the same time that the money laid out on such works is exclusively contributed by the people. There are, of course, many public improvements which it is the bounden duty of the Government to effect, but these come within narrower limits than is generally supposed. In Canada and the United States, private enterprise takes in hand and accomplishes what in these colonies would be entirely left to the Government to do, and thus a laudable attitude of comparative independence towards the Central Government is uniformly maintained in those proverbially thriving countries—which attitude it would be well for us to maintain also, so far as we could do so. Verily, many of our institutions need to be Americanized if we would keep pace with the progressive tendencies of the age. Some think that we are, in more than one respect, making too much headway, and are, consequently, in advance of our time, just as many of the Conservatives in the mother country think that Mr. Gladstone overstepped the bounds of propriety when he accomplished so many great and beneficial changes during his five years’ tenure of office, and when, in his addresses at the last general election, he promised further reforms. The doctrine of being in advance of the age is a most absurd one, and can only be entertained by such as have been cradled in old fogieism. If certain reforms are indispensably necessary for promoting the public weal—and no one can deny that they are —the sooner those reforms are made the better. We are far from making undue progress, and what better proof of this could be adduced than the decayed state of our province at the present time ?