The 'Christian Record' on Mr J. L. Gillies.

Bruce Herald, Volume VII, Issue 650, 17 November 1874, Page 6

The 'Christian Record' on Mr J. L. Gillies.

In the J»wt. number of the . ' New Zealand Christian Kecord *is a criticism of Mr J. L. Gillies' views on the separation of education from ' State c»nt"ul. as propounded by him when he recently addressed his c mstituents It may he ; remembered that we ventured t< dissent from these views, and our contemporary does the same, saying :— • l Mr Gillies, in hia. speech to his cbrstituents, rejoices in the prospect; of our educational system being endowed with half a million acres of lands, and separated or rendered independent of the political body. In tbis-there .are; the roots of twin evils. First, to; lock up an. extensive block' of land from the, ordinary; ccunraerczal operations of ■ociety is unwise. The admitted evils of English land; tenure are the existence of entails, by whioh a large extent- of soil is secluded ;from the benefits of improvements never, -wade, unless the .owner h*s a direct interest in increasing .the valua of the estate, and ako the existence; of leases under which the lessee does not obtain val>je for unexhausted improvements, in consequence of which the land is starved. Any nmchievous tendency foil- wing the locking up of Jand will be intensified in Otago, where the area of agricultural, land is too limited to al.ow withadvantage any portion to be parmanently abstracted from the chance of improvement It is centuries since English legislators endeavored to arrest such an evil, as the occupation of Fandrby special corporations by the passing of the Mortmain Act. Unfortunately this Act does not apply to the Colonies. The mores the pity, as pur Provincial Councillors have a craze for endowing schools, churches, athenaeums, hospitals, and other institutions forgetting, ih at society will, receive more benefit by land being properly improved and cultivated by the owner, than from any fancied saving which may arise to the ratepayers'from the endowments. Second, to render bur educational corporation in any way independent of the body politic, is to •ay it is, incapable of improvement. It would, if independent, become stunted in its growth. standing still when the body politic was adranciog in a course of progress. The removal of either churches or schools from dependence daily on the generation they are to serve, has been proved, by many familiar examples, to rob them of their usefulness, and to lead to their destruction eventually as effete and fossilised institutions requiring reconstruction in accordance with the spirit of the age.