EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 7

EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY.

''THE TOECH OF LEARNING."

SPEECH BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE.

Sir Robert Stout (Chief Justice, and Chancellor of the University of New Zealand) made some interesting remarks at j the "speech day" proceedings in connection with the Diocesan High School for Girls at Epsom yesterday afternoon. j After referring to the pleasure it gave ! him to be present, the Chief Justice said ', that he had no doubt been asked to make j the presentation of prizes that day beI cause of the fact that he was Chancellor loi the New Zealand University. That Lniversity was a secular institution. The j people of this Dominion recognised that I the political and intellectual" orders re- ! mained permanently distinctive from the spiritual. He was afraid, however, that I some people did not agree with, the miI jority in this respect. That was why i they had State education. Their Unij versity was Catholic in the truest sense of the word. It welcomed and applauded j the effort of every institution which asi sisted in passing the torch o£ learning j along. Especially was it interested in secondary schools for girls. It was mc ; very first British chartered university to I bestow degrees upon women. The first lady to attain a B.A. degree was Mrs. j Evans, a native of Auckland, and the ] first M.A. degree to be won by a lady was secured by Miss Helen Connor, afterwards Mrs. HacMillan Bro'.vn, of Christchurch. The Old English universities, he said, had lagged behind, inasmuch as they had failed to afford the opportuni- ; ties of higher education to women. They i ha-d failed to recognise the equality of i women as far as the education question ! was concerned. He well remembered the j battle in New Zealand for equal educa.- ---! tional opportunities for women. The i fight was taken up by Miss Dalrymple, 1 and she was assisted in the undertaking ! by fcir John R. C. Richardson and others. 1 They advocated the establishment of high ; schools for girls, and ultimately the first i institution of the kind was opened at j ; Dunedin. Miss Dalrymple fought deter-' minedly, and her dictionary did not include the words disappointment or dej spair. In reality, however, the battle ( had been won years before. It was won j ■ wjien it was affirmed that girls might I l?.arn the alphabet. In New Zeaiand

ihere was need for the higher education c; women, for here we have true Democracy. Women are admitted to the same political privileges, and it required an educated people to keep up that true Democracy. Without education, it would fail. Cur social procerus are such that they can only be solved by an educated Tjeople. The watch\%=ord of our Democracy must ever be "Education, education, and still further education." tie referred to the motto of Geneva, in which the people paid such homage to learning and education, and to the fact that the Swiss people were actuated by the belief that their freedom and position lay within the meaning of the word learning. Here in New Zealand the position was such that the women had need of higher education. They were placed on a position of poli f ical equality, and it was essential that their education should fit them to deal with the social problems before them. Addressing the school children, Sir Robert Stout said he had been a teacher himself, and the first lady M.A. of >"ew Zealand was ar ~>ne time on- , of his pupils. This he felt to be an honour to himself. Referring to the pleasure to be derived from clothing themselves with 1 thoughts that were beautiful, he said I that by educating themselves up to a i love o£ great writers, thinkers and poets, they would be admitted to a society that ! was most exclusive. Ones into that set, i they could not be excluded. They might I live in places which were small, and lack I many things, but they would be in the I company of great minds—of men like ! Tennyson. Was this not better than to i sit listening to a circle of ladies bemoanI ing the servant trouble? Was it not ; better to read that greatest of writers, George Eliot, than to spend their time over ternoon teas! Was tnis not worth striving fort Further than this, however, they must remember they had their duty to do. In time to come they would /rave to lead the lives of citizens. Their education was to fit them for that life. If Democracy was to succeed, they must fill their minds with learning. Each one had her duties and responsibilities before her. "Do your work as well as you can, and be kind," concluded the Chief Justice, ''and if you work up to that aphorism you will do good wherever you go/