The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1042, 27 February 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever atate or persuasion, religious

or political,

***** Here shall the Press the Paopra's right

maintain, Onawed bv influence and anbribed by gain.

The question of denominationalism or secular education in our public schools would seem to be the ory upon which opponents are to meet at the hustings. The Nelson

battle is to be fought over again in ;lu kland. The election for City

West will bo fought out opon this question, and ib remains to be seen whether that constituency, which is the very stronghold of denominationalism, has not yefc upon its roll sufficient good meD and true to con.serve the present admirable system of education which has become law in this colony and has worked so fa? satisfactorily. There is no benefit to be derived by upsetting the pre. sent arrangement. It would simply be a return to the very undesirable state of things with respect to public education which prevailed up to a late date. In no place more than in Auckland have the evil effects of tho working of the denominational system been apparent. The worst possible value was received for the highest possible cost. The Government funds were rob bed by cooked reports purponiug t cUim subsidies for scholars whose very existence was a myth. The thing was so outrageous that it worked its own cure, and a strong party in the State became determined to obtain educational reform

by merging the various provincial

systems into one general national , education scheme under the con-

trol of the Colonial Government,, Session after Session of the General Assembly saw the attempt made, but in vain. There was a powerful influence, the clerical, which, jealous of any such scheme, that must of necessity be secular in its character, prevented for a long time practical legislation upon it. We had hoped that the working of the present Aci had done much to allay this feeling. But the enemy was not sleeping-, but silently watching. The fight over Mr Curtis' Education Bill of last Session has, however, roused both parties into open action. The attack of the denominationalists is no longer hidden, and they threaten by a block vote to inflaence every election that takes place for the Assembly, in favor of their views. That they signally failed in the late Nelson election, oar readers well known—That they will fail in that of the City West, to come off next week, we fully believe. The people of New Zealand have been denied too long a sound thorough and free | education for their children, and have fought too hard to secure it, to allow a section of the community to | rob them of suoh a blessing, The children of New Zealand colonists, even those of the very poorest and most dependent amongst us, all receive a higher standard of free education than is, perhaps, to be secured in any other part of the Queen's dominions. The colonists will not forego so great a privilege in order toallowChuvohmen of any creed to make those sohoola mere nurseries for the propagation of any special religious dogmas, whatever they may be. And this is really' what denominationalism means. It is not not the champion of religious instruction as against purely secular teachings, but of the dogmas of some particular church, as the case may be. For religious instruction, properly so called, we have the greatest regard, but if Christians cannot meet upon the common platform of the Bible, and it seems they cannot, then we must be content to have the best system of education we can, and by common consent eliminate what ought not to be, but unfortunately is, the bone of contention. If the opinion of the colonists were taken individually, there would, we believe, b9 a very large majority in favor of imparting a religious education in our schools. The Bible, apart from its being the cradle of the Christian and Jewish faiths and the history of the world, stands unequalled in the grandeur of its conceptions—the sublimity of its poetic inspirations—the purity of its moral teachings. There is no other standard by which a man would rather that his children were trained. But, with the same fervor that we all unite in regard for the religion of the Bible in the abstract, do we all differ in its application. It is impossible to devise a scheme of religious instruction founded on Bible teachings, acceptable to Jew and Christian alike, or to the conflicting parties of the various denominations of the latter faith. The jealousy of conflicting denominations prevents the possibility of anything like religious instruciion being imparted in the free State schools. The unavoidable consequence of this has been, in our case, that after much wrangling, this colony has succeeded in substituting the secular for the denominational system. The latter is simply too costly to bejworked. Once admit the principle, and State aid must be granted to every seperate denomination. Where one good school in a country district amply meets the necessities of the case, we should need as many schools as there were religious denominations to be studied. If the same efficiency were to be maintained, the cost of education would be proportionately increased by the number of schools established, and we should haveinstead of one, or, in some cases, two good schools in a district half-a-dozen or more ill-supported, half-starved institutions, and a misernbly half-educated generation of children growing up amongst us. Would the inculcation i of the special religious dogmas be-1 lieved in. by their parents, rightly dear to them in their proper place, be any recompense for this state of things? We think not, and we shall be much astonished if this attempt, at all coming elections, to cram denominationalism down the throat of electors by the threat of block voting does not reooil on the heads of those who resort to so intolerant a course. The utmost deferenoe has been shown to the feelings of all denominationalists in the wording and working of the Education Act. The majority forego the simple reading of the Scriptures lest it offend a weaker brother and the latter in return, not content with such concession, is satisfied with nothing less than the destruction of the education of the people altogether, education, at least, worthy of the name.