BOHEMIA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2403, 3 December 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOHEMIA.

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Fkw pi’.iph', comparatively, are aware of tin! vast proportions to which the work ot lit noinin uional education lias attained in the economy of the world s progress. In New /calami, together with other colonies, the Slate has monopolised the responsibility of giving in-I ruction to the young in all branches and in tho performance of this work it has banished from its system the great duty of inculcating the ethics of religion and morals, and also refuses to recognise the efforts of private enterprise or the earnest endeavours and willingness of the prinei- - 1 churches to undertake that portion or the work it deliberately omits and wi.dc.h limy justly recognise as u'ie of tlie most nece-sary integral eiements in the national well-being and the strengthening of popular rnspeet for Jaw and order with chivalrous patriotism and public honour. In all old countries the direct grants by the State in aid of education and thcassistanec bestowed for the encouragement of the arts and sciences are enormous. In all ages it has been the boast of the. most polished nations (o foster by all means the legitimate effort of the Schools, and the natural genius of tho people towards higher educational progress and culture, and to raise the masses out of the slough of ignorance and darkness. The power and aim of tho greatest intellects of the most enlightened countries of Europe have been devoted for generations towards increasing tho machinery by wliieli the infusion of knowledge, with mental and moral improvements. can reach all classes of society. Thu politicians of onr own colonies are not men gifted with that sagacity and inborn instinct of statesmanship which are the attributes of the master minds of the Old World who are influenced by the immediate intercourse of the accumulated philosophy and hoary experience of a past and sublime history. We, in tbe colonies, are quite new to tho science of state craft and political economy ; ami, in the exuberance of our freedom, we leave become intoxicated with the passion for experimental legislation and fads from which we can only be restored to onr sober senses by costly trials and bitter sufferings. It will bo as well to tako a glance at the extent of denominational education in the British Isles alone—l will not rotor to the .State aid of oilier countries—and, porhaps, no other body do-erves mention in this respect so conspicuously ns tho Established (Jlmrcli. Without going into past history to show that tile Church has for a thousand years pursued a policy of free education, I will summarise the work she is doing in our own day, which will demonstrate plainly that popular education has no better friend than the Church of England. Until tho beginning of the present century, no really organised system prevailed, and the Church was entirely unaided in her labours. In 1811, however, the National Society was founded in connection with the Church of England, since which time, under thoroughly organised methods of teaching, the work in the cause of education has grown to vast proportions, with magnificent results. At first, after tho establishment of the National Society, tho Church had no assistance whatever from tho State, and great difficulties and prejudices had to be overcome. It was about 1833 when tbe State, which had till then ignored the education of the poor, at last rendered some assistance, and an annual grant of £20,000 was made towards tho establishment of new schools. Tho Noncomforn;ists were then represented by tho British and Foreign School Society. In 184!) tho Education Department was established, and tho State worked io concert with the Church in religious, as u-ell as secular, teaching. The Education Act of 1870 separated tho Church from the State. The national sy-tem was purely secular in the elementary schools, and the Church, through the National Society and Diocesan Boards, undertook the entire work abandoned by tin.- Slate. The principle upheld by the Church has been that true education inu-t be based upon n ligion ; that without it it is not possibleto give a thorough education, ami that religious teaching must he definite in its character. At the present time (quoting from the statistics of 18.8,'!) the Church iu (Ireat Britain maintains 11,58!) < liieient schools under Government inspection, with accommodation for 2,351,235 children, or more than half the school accommodation of the whole country. These schools have, been built at a cost of £12,500,000. The benevolence of church members contribute towards their maintenance over half a million per annum, besides the immense endowments which yield £120,-151 a year. Tho religious inspection of schools costs £15,000 per annum, and for the important work of training teachers thirty colleges have been established at a cost of £105,000, and, though the animal maintenance of these is largely defrayed by the State, the -sum of CIO,OOO a year for their support is found by the Society and Diocesan Boards. Tho Parliamentary grants to primary schools in Great Britain and Ireland for the year IH-S-I were as follows England and Wales, GJ.OKi, 107 : Scotland, £475,41.'!, and 1re1and,£732.027; or a grand total of £4,224,207. In addition to these grants tho schools derive an income from foes, local rates, and voluntary snb-criptioiis amounting to £1,140,42'.). Going back again to the returns for 1881, I find that the Government grants to the various deinominations were as follows Schools of the Uhureh of England aim National Society, £1,133,201 ; W esleyan, £07,080 ; Roman Catholic, £114,101 ; licit,ish, Undenominational, ite., £101,277; School Board, £0i0,ool). The average attendance of scholars in 1831 was, in the Church schools, 1,400,-121) ; British, Wesleyan, 361,113; Roman Catholic 152,642; Board, 35(1,.‘151. The voluntary contributions towards these rlmols in ISSI Were, Church, £532.382; tie-other bodies, £144,2!).'!. Since the pa-sing of the Education Act, the accommodation in these denominational schools has risen from I. in 1870 to 2,031,5G1. in ISSI at an increased cost to 1 lie Church of 11. and to the other bodies of £l,-■■oo,ooo. Tbe Church of England Ims a si iff of over 20,001) teachers and nearly I.'!, 001) pupil teachers. From the foregoing will he clearly seen how vast and noble is the work of the Church of England, in the cause of primary education, and taking the aggregate labours of ail denominational schools, bow enormous is the extent to which the state is relieved by them in its assumed functions of giving direct iiistaiciioii to the children of the people ! Can it he said that tin United Kingdom is the worse for the part taken by the religions bodies in the work of education? Are the British people of to-day behind the nations in intellectual progress and morality? The largest share of the great work of education falls to the ehnreh .schools, and whilst the State, very properly, adheres in itown national schools to a purely secular system, it justly recognises the economic value and benefits of the denominational system, and therefore bestows such support as it requires, and the joint labours of all in the concrete for tho cause advance side by side without friction. What I have already described docs not exhaust tho list of means employed by the Church to aimed the people a complete education. J -..iinot here enumerate the great array cl mission and tract societies for the Jo -pogatifm of religious knowledge at Home and abroad, tbe vast work of the

Sen-.ay -'-bools and tbe cla-ses for adults, tie- Ass 'ei.-itions lor the dissemination of lit i .lii.e amom;.-t tlie people, and other v.-nk of a nature akin to the general educational design. Of late the Ohurch has given special attention to providing seia ols for the education of tlie children of the middle class, for which end, at pri sent, there are eight colb-gr-s in full working order atatten led by over two thousand boys and girls, .-dilated in various dioicses. These schools are not included in tho figures quoted above. Eranc-Tireur.