MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 309, 7 May 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

9 The State can only expect every man to do liis duty to uselt and to n« citizens if it provide instruction as to what ♦i v"i/ 18 ' In anjr plan of n" 1 *' 011 * 1 education, therefore, me children must bo instructed m their duties to each other as members of society, and in the common requirements of Jaw and order. These plain and prnctics.l requirement! are, a* l Hive said, generally understood to be taught in connection with religion and under iti sanction. But, in the case ■upposed, when religion is removed from tho elementary schools, the State must atill hare iome security that these principles shall be inculcated on the pliant and docile mind or the rising generation. And what security can be equal to that of retaining the moral or ethical leison as an integral ana essential part of the common school course ? To mate tie ethical lesson in the common school coinpulsoiv, like the the other secular lessons, would be the most natural arrange- "? e ?? J . for> . " * b »™ »aid, the State has an indisputable rignt to enforo the moral instruction of all who are placed under its protection, and so to apply a remedy or preventive to euat orutal ignorance of moral and social duties which is nt once a menace and a nuisance to the community. Were sued an arrangement to meet with genrral acceptance, the \ f rate mi & ht dispense with any further security of the kind I iiave spoken of, and the churches might be left to extend the Denetits of religious instruction as they best could. But wjourli tow would be Hie most natural and obvioui arrnngoinent, it is one to which the churches would have a powerful h J i -j /■'" tbeir desirp t0 retaln aII knowledge m thp nanclmnid of religion, they view with suspicion the severance irom religion of Mich secular branches as nntinj; and arithmetic, much more will be their feeling with regard to a severance of morality from rcl.gion. By the sects, the connection between the latter two is deemed to be so close ns to 7 ind "K>luWe ; and the almost universal sentiment is, that there can bo no morality disjoined from religion Protmbl) t/ie objection on their part to a severance is all but insuperable ; tntl, therefore, at this point it U neces-ary that the fctafe should submit to a compromi-e with the Churches, pn order that it niny not seem to set up the school as a rival or Hostile instilution. The nature of this compromise i%, J think, obTM>«*—rw. that the attendance of the children at the ethical lesson should be compulsory indeed, but compulsory under a limitation. It should "bo obligatory that tie children should be taught morals, but optional whether that teaching be obtained in the common schools or in the church schools In other words, a certificate of attendance on religious instruction in the latter should be accepted as & dispensation from the ethical class m the former, By this provision it is not implied that religioas knowledge may servo in place of moral instruction; but only that the latter h generally understood to be comprehended by the other, and may nther be imparted separately or in conjunction jvith if. It is also imphed that the morality taught by all the sects ii to all intents and purposes the same, and may be |accepted by the nation in lieu of that which would be taught jn the common schools. But to this list point we shall agam return. Without denying, then, that morality is closely and peculiarly connected with religion, I maintain tbat it is also an indispensable part of secular instruction. — Contemporary Review. The original " Woolwich Infant," or 35-ton gun, which cracked internally at proof trial two years ago, has now been retubed, covered with a heavier breech-coil or jacket, and lengthened to the extent of 3ft. in the chase, in the Gun Factories of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. In its present condition it weighs 38 tons, and is identical in contour and external dimensions with tho 17 land-service 35-ton gun< now in course of manufacture in the Arsenal, the greater P ll^ of which are destined to be mounted on the sea-faces of Breakwater Fort, at Plymouth, to protect the entrances to the Sound. It will, however, be employed only as an experimental weapon , to determine the proportion of powder to be made use of for the cartridge of the new gum and the exact weight of projectile to be thrown, and upon the result of experiments about to be executed with it will depend many points of difference proposed to be introduced in the fture of these land-servico Worlwich Infants that are at esent in abeyance. The increase of 3ft. to tho chase of the gun gives it a far lighter appearance than that of the seaservice gun, and by no means takes away from the grandeur of its proportions. Only three grooves for rifling have been cut in the tube, a* it is intended simply as an experimental gnn, and, moreover, that number is sutßoient to give rotation to the projectiles employed in experiments. The new 33ton gun is now undergoing the process of being sighted, and having the caseobel screwed in, in the sighting-room of the Royal Gun IVtories. The coils, tubes, and various parts for the rema-'nder of the 38-ton guns are in an unfinished condition, but completed an far as they can be pending the result of the experiments alluded to.