THE Thames Advertiser. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1874,

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1835, 9 June 1874, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1874,

A correspondent, "W.H.." in yesterday's paper, assigns duties to School Committees which are not set down for them in the Act, aud which, we fear, they could scarcely undertake. " W.H" thinks that School Committees should see that the children attend school, and for that .purpose should: visit tbe homes of tho children, and. point out to parents the duty of keeping them at school. There can be little doubt of the necessity of something like "compulsoryclauses" in all Education Acts, and we believe that all those who have closely watched tho operation of our own measure have become convinced that compulsory clauses of some kind should as soon as possible be brought into operation in connection with it. The reasoning upon whicli compulsory measures are justified is, we think, incontrovertible. The State, in view of the unspeakable importance of education to all its citizens—to those who are to have the most powerful voice in the government of the country —has seen fit to devote a part of the public funds, aud to tax every person in the community, so that the means of instruction shall be within the reach of evdry• child. ; If these ! means ■ were fully taken advantage of, there would be no necessity lor going further, but when it is seen that they are not, and that the very children whom it is most desirable to have, at the schools—the children who have no chance of getting instruction or.receiviug any discipline at home—do not attend, then they must be compelled, or else the educa 1 tioual system,fails;iu-.its : most: [important object. When fees are regularly charged for school attendance, the pupils, on the whole .attend with' 1 'something'''' ; like 'regularity, but when the schools are supported from public funds, a most lamentable carelessuess is observable anidngsta proportion of the pupils. In such a school, of course there are many pupils who, in other circumstances, would.not have gone to any school,' but who attend so irregularly that it is not. of very much benefit to them. By their irregular attendance also, they prevent other pupils frotn .making the progress they otherwise would, and lower the tone of the whole school. One object of any national system of education is to diminish what is known in the colonies as "larrikiuism,!' a pest nourished by parents notexercisiugcontrdl? over their children, and by the opportunities which young boys here have of getting, money. These boys want above all things the instruction which they would get in school, aud the discipline which they would have to observe there.. But in, many cases parents have' no controrover them They feel the school irksome at first), aud they stay away from mere idleness 1 , aud without haying at first probably any very vicioiu inclinations, they soon pass from idleness to vice. If we look abroad on those places where natioual systems of education have been established, wo find that everywhere some kind of compulsory machinery ha.s been foUuct essentia]. BiiV little" action, 1 is necessary, a,s. tl)>e. tyiaji it, is.

illegal to leave their children to grow up in ignorance has a powerful effect in making' parents exercise their authority to keep their children off the streets, aud the kuowledge that they may be forced to go to school by others than their parents has a great effect upon the boys themselves. One obstacle which has hitherto operated in preventing any agitation on the Thames for the putting iu force the compulsory clauses has been the fact that the public schools were not sufficient iu number, and were not in the most suitable places. If children are obliged by law to go to school, these must be furnished sufficient in number and of easy access. Jf, however, a large sum be raised on tho old Supreme Court-house silo for school buildings this! objection,:may be obviated, and on the Thames a school may bo made accessible to all;

It will probably be some time, however, before compulsory clauses can be brought into force in this province, because until there is an efficient system, with abundant schools, we cannot punish children for not attending, Tho Southern provinces, with their enormous land revenues, can have anything in ; this way that they , wish, but poor Auckland has ouly the choice between heavy taxation,, and.utter neglect of education. A good deal has been said about applying to the colony for assistance, and probably somethiug of tho kind will be attempted next session. On this we may" quote from Dr. Pollen's speech in introducing tho Education Bill of' last session :—

It was much' to be regretted that in tho earlier days of the colony, when an object of the kind was possible of accomplishment, the central Government was uot sufficiently alive to the future requirement of the colony as to make provision for the educational want! of tho people upon some uniform scale. Hedid not make these remarks as a. member of tho Uovernment, but as a citizen and a colonist of New Zealand; and he did think that it was deeply to be deplored that that duty hid been neglected, as it was then possible to establish a general system of education and to provide a means of defraying its cost. Ho h'ad always regretted that the land revenue of the whole colony was, not in the first instance ma 'e to bear the educational charges of tho colony.,' Undoubtedly it was to the interest of the colony not. to allow.the people of any portion to grow up in ignorance, or to grow up wanting in 'the 'means of providing education; a very small percontae;o of 'he land revenue of the colony would have provided forits educational wants, and hive edvon us a system with a colonial head and uniformity of operation throughout the colony,. The . strength of a chain wai measured by that of its weakest part; and he did not think it at all safe that one portion of the.colony, because it enjoyed spec'hl advantages, should be in a better pjsition in respect to. this common want than those other portions of the colony which were not so fortunate in the possessiou of large resources. It might be sail that it was not fair to take away the land revenue of one portion of the colony for the purpose of benefiting another, but he denied the right of any portion of the colony to the exclusive interest in the land revenue. It was, from bis point of view, the property of the colony, pla'ce I in- the hands of the provinces for the purpose of faci- f litating the carrying out.c-f its local administration; but he would not allow that the colony had abandoned so completely its 'control over its landed estate as not to be iu a position to say that measures necessary, for the common weal should be made a charge upon the common property.. He might be pardoned for this degression from the immediate subject under consideration, but he hid never ceased toregret the oversight made by llnse gent'emeu who were concerned in bringing the Constitution Act into force in New Zealand. He hoped that it was not even jet too late to bring back the colony to a sense of its duty iu this matter, and to iuduce it to nuke some sacrifice in this cause. He though that if the Southern Island, out of its great abundance, were called upon to make some contribution to its sister of tho North, there might com a. a time when the obligation would be willingly reciprocated ;,and if that time did not come, it would be to the advantage of the wealthy people ia the South to see that the proletarian North was not allowed to fall altogether into a stats -of educational decay. ... ■ ~ v '■'- :'. i ■' ; '

The enterprise of'Otago in obtaining immigrants is somewhat '■' remarkable; "■'•■ and Mr Mac indrew, will now be satisfied, with nothing less than steamers. The,.'. Atrato ? reached Port Chalmers yesterday, with 762 souls, after apissagc of fifty-nine .days, from London, There has been a great mortality amongst'the children on board during 'the voyage, pointing to a deficiency of- accommodation. ou board, With the limitation of immigration which Mr Vogel seems. now ; inclined, to go in for, it is doubtful whether this steam' convey.an<je of immigrants will be:continued, especially; in the face of such a serious mortality as has occurred onboard :the 'Atrato,' whi;h will no doubt lead people at home to distrust sts'ame'rs.'

Master Robert Skeen pupil at'.tUV ; Tharacs School yesfcirdiyrcceivedacertifauedof proficiency from the Central Board of Education dated the 16th, 17th, and 18th 'of••December, 1873 for English; language-arid" history, Roman history, reading, "Writing, and arithmetic. ° Master a very hi'jh'po3itiiu in the competitive examination, -lie was at least two years younger than any of the other competitor*, and was within a few points of the highest in the province,"' " " '■

The- Municipal Council; or those who have charge of their works should tike care to prevent the laying of mantraps on the roadside, or .in the middle of the roadways,' in the shapo of heaps of broken ,somo. dark night a 'senouiV casualty wilt-' bo the : Yosu't. Last night two Maoris were riding along tho Tararu ltoadnOpposite the'.lmperial Crown battery, at a-, pretty brisk-pac.i, when, one'of the horses,'dazzled possibly by the light''from' the other side of the road, got -on a heap of broken metal, and of course fell ■ In his jail he got severely cut about' the head and knees, and his rider was pitched about five yards ahead onthe iron rails of .the tramway, The man was picked up in an'insensible state'by Messrs J. Hall an l : (Je'o. iVlcOiul, 'who were passing at the tim*;' It was" found 'he' 1 hVI sustained a nangerous wound on hisleft temple, besides'other injuries.;' The hors'e was,also stunned and lay-where' l he. fell,' 1 Hid'' the" fall not been observed it is quite possible thit'%e next'bus passing l would have gone! over -horso or rider, oyensuppiaing; that it escaped Contact with the heap of, broken metal. ;.. ~s

,' An inquest was held yesterday, on the body o£ Joshua Waterworth, who diol at the Hospital on Sunday night from .the effects oE iujudcs inflicted by him>elf. A bundle of lott ra which had been founl on deceased was pro.luced at theiuq'iestby Gdoatablo'Madill. 'A. number of them, were from a sister of deoeased,- who wrote from ".Wiugfield Hall, near Harleston, ■■.<'.' , • '

~ Mr James Craig sold a quantity, of M muk iu tilling* which had accumulated at th'eTraV way lattery yesterd iy. Tho unin heap o mtained rather more than 300 tons, which wera soil ia two lots. The first-parcel, of 110 tons' or thereabout', was ptirclused by Bnwtt ami Wick for their tailings plant at Twu ftr 5s 91 per ton. Tho remain Ur of the heip was purchased by Oliuo ■ aud Biwden for their, calcinittl works, Tararu Road, : There was a small pardeL' b£;' abo ab fiyefcons of berdatt tailings, orjpyrites, after, a' koea ooinpofcU I tion between; Mjf Masters, of the pyrites reduc* tiott worts, ■>rah,j,aatowa i - aad -Hr IHwdon, [ by. fiper far !,,' ;

The staamer 'Enterprise,' which arrived from Auckland this morning, brought down a large number of passengers and a full general cargo. She leaves again for Auckland at 1 o'clock today.

We understand that the Government have accepted the tender of MrJ. J. O'Brien for the erection of a telegraph-station at the Miranda, on the opposite side of the frith of Thames to Graharastown, and that the work will be commenced forthwith.

The Waiotahi School Committee held a 'meeting yesterday, at 'which the whole of the ffmembers except Mr Lawlor were present. The business was of a routine character, except the consideration of applications for the assistant teachership to'the' Thames School. Mr K. H. Compton, of Pukekobe, was appointed.

Circulars have been issued, signed. by Mr James Stewart, one of the shareholders in the Queen of Beauty Mine, inviting the directors of the various mines situate on the Waio-Karaka flat to meet at the Governor Bowon Hotel tomorrow night, to consider the drainage of the mines in the Waio-Karaka district. Tho time is not mentioned in the circular, but we have been asked to state that the meeting will commence at 7 o'clock.

The Tcmfhr Standard oi last Saturday lias a good (leal of correspondence upon the question of whether, when public-houses are all abolished, compensation should be granted to the publicans. We should be sorry to see any division amoug the brethren and sisters on this point. They .may safely leave it for settlement by the next generation. In a letter on the subject, the Hon. W. Fox says:— It has been estimated that the vested interest in Glasgow is worth £500,000. Who is going lo find the money to buy it up ? Take a country village in New Zealand, such as that in which I shall post this letter. , There are,two large public-houses in it. T<> buy them out would cost from £3,000 to £4,000.-. The road rates of our whole district amount to atwit £606'a-ye.vr; our education rates to half that'amount. I fear if the residents in it can only shut up the publics by taxing themselves to the extent of four years' rales under both heads above-mentioned, it will-be 'very long before their zeal as tempcranw re formers will bring them to do it. Better light it out to'the bitter end, and trust to the power of the people's will when educited in temperance principles for a few years, putting - down the trade without propitiating, by costly sacrifices this Haal 'whose altars they destroy. We do not read that the iconoclasts of old were guilty of the wfakness of sacrificing to th» idol before they pulled down the shrine.

The Hawk's; Bay .Herald, in a leading article on bouse accomodation in Napier, says: j —",\ .stranger arriving in Napier must be struck with the paucity of houses to let, es : , pecial'y if he lias visited Auckland and the Thames any time within the last twelve mo4hs At. .Shortland. the traveler will find house after bouse, and. almost street after, street, to let: not a'very encourasiiiig spectacle, and. of the two, the prospect of no house room at all is the preferab'e one , There are many w-rking men on the Thames goldfield who are not,, earning'high wages, aud every steamer to Sydneyiakes some away, to try their fortunes on the doubtful Palmer.' iver,.or other hot a-d fever-atrick'en region of Noithern Australia; whilst in most parts • f New Z-aLind. except toe •Province of. .Auckland, work ia abundant .athigh'wages, and.the climate i( p'easant and. healthy. This is. the case at Hawke'a Bay; but it costs a man- as much to get here, from the Thames'or Auckland, as'it does to go from there.to Sydney; and here tb/'wareiio houses to put people into when you get tbem. Ths fact is no doubt,, well known at the Thames, and.deters many working-men from coining. here, who might go further aid fare worse. If some of the'houses now standing empty.at Shortland, Qrabamstown, and the back streets of Auckland, could be. moved down here, 'and the-unemployed, or only partially employed, workmen brought with them, a very great good would be affected by the change It is quite certain, additional house-room must, be afforded here, if it is intended ti attract people to Napier, and keep them when they get here.'"'

Our amusing, if not very scrupulous contemporary, the San Francisco News Letter, following the example of the New Yorh.Flendd, has a weekly , paper on Sunday services, hea'cd "Droppingsfrom the Sanctuary." In iis issue of the 21st March, we find the following ._« We would like to ask Hallelujah Cox whether there is not something in the Bible about the Pharisees standing on the street comers and being seen' of men. We ask for information merely." We wonder whether this paragraph refers to an Auckland attorney of that uame, who lived in the odour of sanctity for many, years, and departed; forCaliforuian under exceedingly shady circumstances.— Southern Mercury.

Mr David Dudley Field the eminent American jurist, who has been paying a visit to Sydniy, vw lately entertained at a picnic on the Zig-zag, where' the Great Western Railway c osses the' Blue; Moimfctins. On'the return j lurney at Mount Vidtdria, luncheon' was served, and, after the table was cleared, Sir Alfred Stephen proposed the toast' of "Our guest." In response to the toast, Mr Field said: When the chairman announced that he would now call upon -ir Alfred Stephen to propose a toast appropriate.to the place and the occasion, I thought he was about to propose'■ a toast in honour,of. the, Queen, for we are now upon Mount'"Victoiw;' and'l said'to'ni'.'self how heartily wilt we, Republicans as we are, join in j a toast to this foremost woman of all the world. (Applause:-).. Biit since Sir Alfred Stephen— j clarum nonien—has proposed a : toast in hpnour,bf my wife and myself, I must \ express hervthanks and mine for the honour ' you have done! us in drinking the toast. Let I me say also,that, on her behalf and my own, and I think! may say on behalf of the other Americans present—Mr Hall (our consul) and his wife, who, though" English : born/is a'so an jimerican by matrimonial: right—that we thank you for this most interesting excursion along this wonderful railway, amidst this magnificent scenery, I have long felt an interest in Australia, and my interest has been increased by all that I have Been since I arrived. I came through strange lands to find myself here not a stranger. Emti Italy to Egypt, from Egypt' to India, from India to Ceylon, and. from Ceylon to Australia, I came to find here English communities in English homes, with English 'institutions. Many a time since we arrived have [ listened to the chimes ringing out, as I Lave heard them in the green lanes and merry villages of' England. Australia appears to me to be a-country with a great future before it. 'You have accomplished great things already; you will accomplish,.more hereafter. You of Australia—Jrid 1 include in this term not only Australia,-but New' Zealand and Tasmania— you of Australasia stand face to face with Asia, having on ono hand Europe, and on the other Ameiici. It is your lot to dominate over the southern hemisphere. Whatever may be your future form of Government,'however close or relaxed the tie with England, the men who inhabit Australasia will control the vast of the southern hemisphere Your closest tie is of courso, with the British..islands; but while with one hand you grasp the girdle of I beg you to reach out the other towards us, who' j desire to shako hands with you across the Pacific sea. (Applause.) Sir Alfred has said we are kinsmen. We are indeed bound together by the tie of race and language, and [ rejoice that Englishmen, with tiuglish laws and •English manners, havo established their "dominion in this quarter of the globe. (Applause.) I wish to see all our nations carrying their language and their \mfio the extent of their power. 1 believe that by your efforts and ours, by the efforts of Eng'ishmen and the

descendants' of Englishmen, tbo Eugliab langu ige will hereafter become the. predominant :j language of the world. When lan ivcd in Australia, L found that your rantto was "Advance . Australia/' and thit your colonial flag had on it the stars of the Southern Crosi Allow mo to

express the hope that your motto will nover be .changed, and that the Southern t'rom, as it passes wiih its attendant ataw nightly across the sky, will shine through all future ages upon a'fre.o, and happy Ajsjireilau,