The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3858, 11 May 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1881.

W« notice by the Government Gazette, that Education Boards will not in future b«. allowed capitation for children under fire years of age attending the Public Schools. The Auckland Educational Department do not allow children under &ri years of age to be entered in the school register, and therefore have never received' capitation for children under that age. It would indeed be a hoon to teachers, without in any way interfering with (other than promoting) the advancement of the children, were the Board to prohibit those under seven, at least under six years of age attending the State schools, and to allow no capitation to those under that age. Many parents look upon out Public Schools more in the light of nurseries than anything else, and send th*eir children to be taken care of for a certain number of hours during the day, In order to free themselves from the burden of care, that would necessarily attend the keeping them at home. These young children are only perplexed by the instruction that is intended to benefit them, and at so early an age, can grasp nothing clearly; indeed their brains get muddled, and churned as it

were, without in any way making their future path easier for them, but rather laying obstructions in it. It has been frequently noticed, that if a child of ordinary abilities be sent to school at an age of fire years, and a child of the same reasoning powers, ability, age, &c, &c, be kept at home until seveu years of age, (when the former will have received the benefit (?) of two years instruction) before eighteen months hare passed, the latter will be far in advance of the former in knowledge, perception, and all general acquirements. Our schools should not be transformed to nurseries; nor should they be made a means of dulling the perceptions of children which they certainly do in the case of youngsters who are sent to receive instruction before they can walk properly. If we had wellorganised infant schools, with trained teachers, for these mites of creation, well and good, but until such time, parents! keep your wee bairnieb at home. What I we require are reasoning men and women, not those who work by rule, and follow that rule under whatever circumstances they may be placed. To obtain these, we must not blight the reasoning powers of the little ones w||o, some day, if properly handled now, may take their stand amongst the most learned and eminent of a future day.

Notwithstanding the opposition of the more pronounced Radicals, the House of Commons has carried a motion that a statue is to be erected in Westminster Abbey, at the expense of the nation, to the late Karl Beaconsfield. This.is but a just tribute to the memory of one of the most remarkable men of this century, and ooe who, by his genius|and great ability, reflected credit on the English nation. The Press, speaking of his death, says : - It is not at this moment, certainly, that auy will be found to deny the credit of a high order of genius to the late Lord Beaconsfield. It is not only that he succeeded, but that he succeeded against obstacles to which none of his rivals were exposed. To become Prime Minister of England, to obtain and keep the confidence of a party, are in themselves evidence of extraordinary ability. And even when every allowance is made for the usually favourable conditions under which these distinctions have been won, it is felt that a high tribute is due to those who have succeeded. But Lord Beaconsfield entered upon the career of politics without any adventitious aids bejond those which his own genius secured him. He was not only of an alien, but, it might be said, of a proscribed race. Yet he became the trusted chief of a party which, more than any other, set itself to rivet the chains by which bis race had for as many ages been shackled. It may be said, too, that great as was the confidence reposed in him, it was not greater than his fidelity, and this was the more remarkable, as it could not be said of him that he was at any time a blind believer in the traditions, or a firm adherent of the principles of the party with which he connected himself.