OUR MOTHER TONGUE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2566, 28 March 1877, Page 3

OUR MOTHER TONGUE.

Governor Weld, of Tasmania, in pre«enting a school prize the other day said : —" The prize he was about to present was for English composition, and he was sure little was required of him to impress upon the minds of all present the importance of a thorough knowledge of the English language." He had spent ten years in the study of foreign languages, but pc knew none that had been more useful to him than the study of English. He had no desire to in any way undervalue other branches of education. Classics. did a great deal in the way ef forming the mmd 1, and were a great aid to correct reading and writing. Still the want of-knowledge of one's own language, while a mistake in euclid might not be considered disgraceful, was not creditable. They saw in the public Pi-e/s—but he was "not speaking locally—very often .badly worded sentences;' and, indeed, in Parliamentary notices of motion Ihe same defect was apparent although (turning to the hon the Colonial Treasurer) he did not mean to refer specially to our own Parliament. Still he had seen a good deal.of slipshod writing t in Parliamentry notices- and resolutions, and were things should have been made clear they found clauses so constructed that, as the lawyers would say, one could drive a coach and four through them." Our ex Premier is severe upon the New Zealand Parliament and Press.