New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justita. SATURDAY, MAY 29,1875. PRIVILEGED CLASSES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 109, 29 May 1875, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justita. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1875. PRIVILEGED CLASSES.

Ik a recent article on Public Libraries, one of our daily contemporaries says, the aid given to tliem by the Provincial Government of Otago will no doubt appear very shocking to the opponents of Government Education. This will depend however, on the nature of the system of education niainl tamed by the State. It is quite conceivable that the State might be just, and that consequently no shock would be given to any one. But our contemporary means of course, that the opponents of the Otago system will receive a shock on learning that the Government, supported by all, durinothe last Session contributed beyond £500 out of the common funds of the province to circulate books • in very many of which the vilest falsehoods are stated in reference to the religion, clergy, and policy of one portion of the community. And the sense of injustice thus provoked, will be enhanced by the reflection that all aid is refused to the members ot tins community, out of the moneys contnbuted by themselves. J Such being the case, our surprise has been great indeed to find a little further on, in the article from which we have quoted the following words-" The State is a co-operate association, waose main object is to render more efficient the efforts of its members to obtain for themselves the greatest possible amount of happiness that can be obtained under the circumstances in which they are placed If this definition were given of any other 'State' than those of the British Colonies, or of the United States of America it would, perhaps, not be a strictly correct one. In any attempt, for instance, to define the < State ' of England account would have to be taken of the fact that one of its mam functions is to protect certain hereditary privileged classes m the possession of their peculiar advantages " There are none so blind as [those that will not see The writer of the above is clearly of opinion that here, in New Zealand, the Governments lender more efficient the efforts of colonists to obtain for themselves the greatest possible amount of happiness ; and that one of their main functions is not to protect certain privileged classes in the possession of their peculiar advantages. What are the facts ? In the matter of education, for example, nothing could contribute more to the greatest happiness of Denomiuationallsts than the appropriation to their own schools of an equitable share of the moneys they are compelled " to pay for the purposes of education. This would be also in accordance with the primary principles of natuial justice. The Governments of Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland however, persistently refuse to do this, and devote the entire of the taxes levied for schools in support of the education of one section of the community, to the exclusion of the other. The * Otago Daily Times ' of course, will tell us there is no school rate in Otago ; but it can not deny that the Government, out of the common State fund, supports a system of education which one portion of the people does not and can not accept. As to Canterbury aud. Auckland, however, the miserable subterfuge of the ' Times ' cannot be applied. Again, is it true that Governments here do not protect certain privileged classes in the possession of their peculiar advantages? Let us see. Here, in Otago, the Eoman Catholics have, in many places

schools to which the Government refusbs all aid from the public revenues. The adherents of the Church of England have also denominational schools which are equally ignored by Government. But the Presbyterians have no schools. Why?, because the Government schools, maintained by funds belonging to the community at large, are in reality Presbyterian. In Canterbury and Auckland the system of education is practically Anglican, but then the Presbyterians are satisfied, inasmuch as Catholics are excluded aud at the same time compelled to pay for their exclusion' So far, then, from the State here being what our contemporay says it is, the contrary is the fact. In the three provinces of .Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland, one of the main functions of Government is to protect certain privileged classes in the possession of their peculiar advantages It will be necessary, therefore, for the ' Otago Guardian ' to amend its definition of the State.

The newspapers of the colony are for the most part great advocates of education, provided however, the Government, whilst excluding Catholic schools from all share in tbe school rates', will maintain a system approved of by one party only. According to these worthies, all must pay for Government schools, but a considerable portion of the people who pay for them must be excluded, unless they apostatise from their principles, and discard their conscientious convictions.

Nor is this all. These would-be guides of public opinion, even in the presence of notorious facts, advocate a system of education which has already led to the demoralisation of the people amongst whom it has been established. This is the teaching of experience, and it does not surprise us, for what can godless education lead to but to godlessness.