THE EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 257, 11 May 1866, Page 2

THE EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.

TO. THE EDITOB OF THE SOUTHLAND T121E3. j Sir, — The claims of Education are in our day, so highly considered, so generally esteemed, and so universally entertained that their advocacy may be regarded as either a trespass upon the forbearance, or an imputation upon the enlightenment of a people. But cast your eye over the face of this Province, and you may observe six or seven buildings, .erected as centres of education, standing neglected, like the landmarks of a degenerated race, indicating the extent of past progress, of present apathy and supinenesa. Enter the dwellings of our Provincials, and you will see— youth in physical development, and natural canacit^,Yjnferior to those of

no other country under the sun, but almost destitute of the advantages of, edcation. Question the people themselves, and they will sa^, " We have done all in our power to bring the means of education within the reach of our children, but the country is so thinly occupied, that we cannot i)ring scholars together in sufficient numbers to make the school self-sustained. G-overnment either cannot or will not do anything in our support. There i& no help for* it but to wait until we have a larger neighborhood or until Grovernment is relieved of its . embarrassments." Tou will receive this answer from practical business men who think themselves incapable of the folly and weakness of day-dreaming, men who, if it were a matter affecting , their own immediate interests, would raise town and country, nor cease agitation; until they had found redress ; but who, as it effects only the next generation, though these be their own offspring, are content to fold their hands resignedly with more Moslem fatality than free progressive Christian spirit. Sir, this negligence" is disgraceful, staining the honor as it saps the permanent interests of our common country. Where, within ten years at least, are we likely to have a country neighborhood sufficiently large of .itself to support a school? The idea is chunerica;l. Only the intelligent family man feels that he has an interest in supporting the cause of education ; therefore he alone is a valuable neighbor in this cause, and to such, a one's settling in the country there cannot be a stronger obstacle than the absence of the means of education. The apparent indifference to education, in some cases, is due less to individual unconcern than to a want of unanimity among the settlers. But where this not the case, and they cordially united, the paucity of their numbers make it imperative that G-overnment should come to their aid, else they must succumb. What in this case has G-overnment done? It has suspended the Education Ordinance, ostensibly to relieve the settler, but in reality to remove a measure obnoxious to the land speculator. The only bond of union was -thus removed and combination made dependent on the voluntary principle. The legality of the suspension is questionable, as the concurrence of the G-overnor, I understand, has been dispensed with, and we have yet to learn that our branch of the legislature can suspend or annual measures, to the total ignoring of the other's existence. YHowever this may be, it is desirable that an express declaration should be elicited from the G-overnment as to their intention in this matter, that if they are unequal to the duty of subsidizing the schools, the G-eneral G-overnment may be solicited t6 take the matter in hand. Every individual in the province contributes indirectly (by taxation on articles of consumption) to the' maintainance of a system of G-overnment, the only^ return for which is the gratification of being able to preserve, as they do mummies in museums, a form perfect in all its parts but destitute of the vital principle. How are G-overnment officials paid ? I presume that however they may love the form they cherish, they are not so disinterested as to attend to it for nothing. Why could not schools be supported as they are? - That they -would be of less service, I leave the public to judge. Education is an exotic, which, however the soil may be adapted to its growth, requires constant fostering care ; but which, wherever . it has been introduced, has eclipsed everything of indigenous growth in the splendour and stateliness of its form, the refreshing verdure and brilliance of its foliage, the unrivalled excellence of its fruit, surpassing the fabled trust of the Hesperides. In education as in religion the demand seldom or never precedes but almost invariably follows and increases with the supply, hence its higher claim upon an enlightened G-overnment and an intelligent people.— l am, &c, A COUNTEYMAN". Southland, 9th May. »'