USELESS EXPENDITURE.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 266, 8 May 1860, Page 4

USELESS EXPENDITURE.

(From the Launceston Examiner.) When a Government intrudes into a sphere where, under the plea of promoting the public; weal, it.cloes nothing but mischief, it ought to be summarilly ejected. Governments have always had a penchant to take charge of religion and education. Depotisms have done this for their own safety. The Jioscovite is. : taught

in his religious, catechism that the Czar is next to, if not equal to, : the< Almighty, and that implicit obedience to the; one as to the other, is a duty whatever the behest nifty, be. In Prussia,1 a comparatively free state, whiire education is compulsory aud is provided by tEe Gei.

vernment, the^effect has been most" pernicious on the mind as well as the heart in respect to the higher and more important class, ofquestions. in England the Government came in to patron* ise education at a time when it had surmounted all difficulties and become a marked success. A very large sum ■is now yearly spent in the mother country on education with very questionable benefit. The British and Foreign system and the so-called National System subsidised by the government come into competition with that education which is voluntarily offered or cheerfully pjid for by those who ueither wish to pauperise the population nor to be pauperised by gratuitous instruction. This is an evil ofgre.it magnitude, and like some other injustices is not only an offence against right, but what'is worse, politically speaking a mistake. It is a needless waste of the public resources, and js opposed to the right thinking part of tl.e nation. It involves injustice or inconsistency, and if carried out with inxeorab!e logic becom.es an absurdity. If a general system of education or religious teaching could be devised acceptable to all, it would still be doubtful if the state should be the educator. But when that is impossible it is folly to interfere. In..lreland, in Nova Scotia, and in New South. Wales, the Roman Catholics, not content with.equality, now ask that the money devoted to education should be distributed among ■ the various sects to promote the disunion process. The Government must either cease to subsidise any or subsidise all. If it select the former, no injustice would be done, and money saved; if all are helped, then nothing is in fact done but to perpetuate contradictory creeds, which a nation should studiously .ignore for the mere sake of the peace and welfare .of the aggregate of sub-, jects. In this country we have anomalies enough in education and state support to religion. But the Legislature has hesitated to extend to paganism and other isms what is their due if the principle on which parliament acts is sound. The Joss-house, where there are Chinese, is as much entitled to aid from the general treasury as a Chtistiau temple. We have only to turn to India, to see what the British Government will do to justify grants to educational institutions and religious worship. There is a consistency which is peifectly startling, but which puts state aid in its true light Mathematics and astronomy are " tabooed" in the public schools because they subvert the faith of the Hindoo. The Bible is excluded. A correpoudent says:—

When lately examining the boys at one of the Government schools, I observed that they suddenly jumped over half a page of reading. I inquired the cause, when the boys told me that their i eacher had directed them to slip over these and many other passages, as they were question from the Christian Bible. Finding that the passages which had been passed over were choice iiiaxims, adapted for all men of all creeds, I pointed out their value to the Hindu teacher, for training the boys to habiis of industry and virtue. His reply astonished me, and opened my eyes to the viciousness of our system. He said that they omitted all passages taken from the Bible, in obedience to a positive order from the Government; that he himself and scholars had no objections to learn and read these texts, but that the orders of Government were peremptory on the subject.

The British Government, to maintain its consistency, 10 late as 1843, became the patrou of a tooth :—

The Delada, the precious tooth of Buddha, preserved in the great temple at Kandy, Ceylon, and which had not been brought out of its sacred retreat for fifty years, was publicly exhibited by the Governor, S;r Edward Barnes—aa the blood of St. Januarius is shown by the pirests to the Neapolitans for the devotion of the myi'iads of faithful Buddhists who had assembled from all partn of the island. At that period, our Government app >inted the Buddhist priests, defraying the expenses of " devil dancing," then continued at Kandy for seven days, and paid the accounts, aa per voucher, '• for her Majesty's Service." In the same lemple in which the Delada (tooth) was enshrined within its suven golden cases, hung a beautiful image of Buddha himself, presented by Miss Barnes!

. So low do so called Christian Governments descend, and so deapii able do so-called Curistians become. We refer to these matters to show the plundered public that their means are misapplied, and. their resources wasted when Governments undertake to provideeiihet-educa-tion or religion. The community are duped and it is our duty as journalists to let them know it. It is for the people to take actiou and protect their own pockets. If they do not ministers will always be ready to disburse what does not belong to them.

A New Grass.—The intelligent interest taken by Mr. A. T. .Holroyd, the barrister, in the progress of agriculture is well known. At a late meeting of the agricultural Society Mr. Holroyd stated that, "he had himseli introduced several species of saccharine grasses which would be of great benefit to the country : and he might mention that he had lately been shown a sample of a new grass, which had never yet seeded but was propagated by cuttings, planted in rows 16 feet apart, each plant covering a diameter of 7. feet. He . believed cattle would prefer it to anything but the imphee or sorghum. He meant to put in half an acre and the society should know the result of the experiment. He believed it would almost supersede green barley; it was perennial, and would be found in valuable in swampy lands. That was an instance of one of the advantages that would result from the operations of the society; and he hoped, by having exhibitions as in England, the agricultural and other producing interests of New South Wales might be greatly advanced." At a subsequent stage of the proceedings he informed his hearers that, he had lately procured a new trenching plough, and intended to try it before the exhibition, where he should shew it.-

It worked to a depth of 20 or 22 inches— was drawn by two horses—and, with the attendance of 4 men, would, he expected, trench land at a cost of £12 or £15 an acre. He would keep an account of the result and.state it to the society. He sincerely trusted that they would now go a-head. What they had felt the want of was a local position, and this they had obtained by the grant of land. He referred to a new description of goose which he had obtained, three of which had been found to weigh 751b5.; also to a new breed of sheep, without wool, the flesh of which was equal to venison—these he would exhibit at the next show. Some persons thought that he ought not to meddle with such matters, but confine his attention to his professional duties;. but he could not agree to that. He gave five days every week to his professional duties and one day to agriculture. Ittawara Mercwry,