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New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1877. EDUCATION AND THE GOVERNMENT.

Announcements have appeared in several newspapers to th& effect that Government intends to introduce an Education Bill during the next session of Parliament. The papers alluded to have said, further, that the new Bill will be framed on the principle of the law at present in force on this subject in Victoria. The newspapers which have made these announcements are, we believe, friendly to the G-overnment, and in favor of what is comically called secular education. We aredisposed to conclude that there is some truth in these reports, and that the blunder of the Victorian Government will b& repeated here. We have not, we never had, any confidence in either the aMlity or the principles of the present Government, notwithstanding we entertain a real respect, personally, for some of its members. But, when speaking of the Government, we take it as a whole, and estimate it according to its corporate acts and principles, not from the individual worth of its component parts. The great point, however, is : will the Parliament follow the lead of the Government in the matter of Education ? This is likely, for there does not seem to be much independent thought or extensive information amongst a large proportion of its members. Nor have they manifested the manly courage tfiat bravely faces difficulties with an honest determination to overcome them. Copyiug what has been done by others is much easier than initiating a policy of one's own. The law of Victoria is ready to band ; and the reports of the debates, whilst this law was passing through the Victorian Legislature, will supply arguments to ion. members at once, and without labor. In fact, it is a case of legislation made easy. But we have often been struck with amazement at the servile spirit of imitation of Victoria, which animates so many of our public men here. There is really no reason for it. The legislation of Victoria has been neither wise nor successful. Her land laws, for example, which were intended to settle the people on the land,and prevent the accumulation of vast tracts in the hands of individuals^have only succeeded in effecting what it was intended to prevent. Her policy of protection has succeeded in injuring the revenue, stopping immigration, driving large numbers of her people into New South Wales, and reducing wages. And her unjust and tyrannical law on the subject of education has alienated at least a fourth of her population, whom high handed injustice is driving into a state of'chronic discontent, which can only end in creating a contempt of law and of Parliament. The only way in which we can account for. the worship^ paid by our public men to the example of Victoria, is the supposition that wealth, no matter how acquired, is the one thing deserving of highest honor. In defiance of very unwise legislation, Victoria, owing to exceptional circumstances, her gold deposits, and energetic population attracted to her shores by these deposits, ha 3 been, and is wealthy. She is honoured, I therefore, as if any merit were due to her for the abounding sources of wealth deposited within her boundaries by Provi. dence: Our politicians seem to think that it is a legitimate conclusion to say that because Victoria is wealthy, she is wise and just. It is an argument which though generally accepted in practice is baseless. But if our Government and Legislature must needs goin search of a scheme of national education, why not go to England at once? England is older, more experienced, larger than Victoria, and though bigoted, certainly not moreso than Victoria. Then it must be borne in mind the system . of education prevailing in England is the result of long earnest, and dispassionate deliberation ; whereas that Of

Victoria is the out-come of political spite, religious rancour, and infuriated haste. The latter was adopted to spite onefourth of the population, for base political purposes; the former has been established by gentlemen, scholars, statesmen, and serious, earnest, Christian legislators, looking not to the triumph of a soft-goods shopkeeper, but to the lasting prosperity of a great nation. And what is the principle of the law on education in England— what its chief characteristic 1 Why that education must be Christian and denominational. The Government helps all denominations, encourages them to raise up efficient schools of their own, and subsidises all without exception. True, there are School Boards and secular schools in England, but then these are the exception not the rule ; and where there are a sufficient number of the denominational schools, these School Boards cannot exist. In Victoria, however, the very opposite is the case. Not content with withdrawing all aid from denominational schools, the Government universally ! has built its own godless school hard-by the Catholic school, I with the avowed purpose of destroying the latter. And this is the system of folly, spite, and injustice, as we are told by their friends, the present Government of New Zealand is prepaid to recommend to the Legislature next session. We are sorry to say we think it is very probable that it will be so. The present Government has given evidence of so little statesmanship, of such narrow partizanship, that we shall not be surprised at any folly and blunder it may perpetrate.

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Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT18770316.2.20

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 206, 16 March 1877, Page 10

Word count
Tapeke kupu
891

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1877. EDUCATION AND THE GOVERNMENT. New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 206, 16 March 1877, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1877. EDUCATION AND THE GOVERNMENT. New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 206, 16 March 1877, Page 10

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