The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 12, 1876.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 811, 13 June 1876, Page 5

The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 12, 1876.

During the last few months the Superintendent of Otago, and the members of the Provincial Executive, have taken ad •vantage of every opportunity that preeen ted itself, to make a little political capital at the expense of the General Government ; and so confident were those gentlemen that by raising their false and hollow cries, they were enlisting the sympathies of the people, that they were often incautious enough to carry the game a little too far, nnd lay themselves open to attack. When at a recent meeting of the Education Board, Mr James Macandrew bewailed the emptiness of the Provincial coffers, jand the inability of the Executive to meet the demands made upon it for educational purposed, he took care to assert that the General Government was alone responsible for the deplorable state of affairs, and his statement was, no doubt, believed by a fe**v of those persons who will not take the trouble to look into such matters for themselves. We stated at the time that the demands made upon the Education Board were not more numerous than they had been for years past, and that Mr Macandrew's wailings were nothing but political " bunkum." They had one good effect, however, and that was to draw the attention of tbe inhabitants of other provinces to the disreputable tricks of the Otago Executive, in a manner that Mr ■ Macandrew and his supporters can tcarce relish. The ' Otago Daily Times' declared that, financially, the Otago Education system had broken down, and that startling piece of information was telegraphed all over the Colony. The Christchurch 'Press,' in referring to the ■subject, says : — "This lack of provision for education appears at first sight unaccountable. If true, it reflects deep disgrace on the Provincial Government fl_<_ Council. For Otago is a very wealthy Province. -Its revenue last year, ordinary and territorial, amounted to more than :-- :£6oo,ooQ— so at least we have seen it stated in a Diinedin journal, for we have no, official returns— -and is probably at no less a- rate for the current year. Such a „ .sura., afforded the means of making most substantial provision for educational purposes.J A l n siniilar opportuni- ■ ties have been turned' to admirable ac- : count The Education vote for the nine jnoaths eading MarcU *3lsty; (io-

yyjyy "yy>. < >...>.,. J. . ... . .:. ..J.J1.J... eluding the appropriation tor school buildings as well as for maintenance) amounted to £72,433 ; or at the rate bf nearly £97,000 a year. For the year ending March 31st, 1876, the total vote was £103,543. Why have no such appropriations been made in Otago? It argues a frightful degree of indifference or mismanagement that, in a Province having an income of £600,000, the Board oif Education should be compelled to avow itself unable to continue its operations for sheer want of money." We quite agree with our contemporary in the charge of gross mismanagement it has brought against the Provincial Executive, and the members of that body must surely regret having exposed the seamy side of their administration to the critical gaze of our neighbors. The 'Press' coincides with us in our opinion that the state of affairs has . been exaggerated, and then almost repeats the charge we made against Mr Macandrew and his colleagues. Our contemporary saya : — "But we believe the representations we have referred to are exaggerated. The poverty-stricken aspect of the Otago Board of Education iB mostly assumed ; and, if it had any wish to comply with its petitioners' requests, the difficulties would not be found insuperable. The truth is that the Superintendent and his Executive, who are ex-officio members of the Board, are using it for their political ends. Their object is to get up a cry against the recent proceedings of the Waste Lands Board. They arebittterly incensed with the Waste Lands Board for refusing to sanction the proposed sale of large blocks of land to certain runholders, and are determined to make the public feel the consequences of its refusal by a general stoppage of expenditure on public works and Education, which they represent as the necessary result of the action of the Board. Of course, too, the General Government can be implicated. It ia easy to say that, as Mr Macandrew has not scrupled to state, the Waste Lands Board acted under instructions from Wellington ; and easy to talk of how differently matters would have been arranged, and what abundance of funds would have been available, if the Provincial Council had not been debarred from meeting. The people, in their annoyance at the loss of the expected subsidies, are not likely to be very critical of the reasons assigned, and can be induced to accept any tolerably plausible connection between cause and effect. And thus, to the delight of every Provincialiat, the withholding of assistance from the local committees, the want of school buildings, and the threatened breakdown of the Educational system, are made to appear as the first fruits of Abolition." The * Press ' has hit upon the real state of the case, and placed the matter before its readers in a very clear manner; and we have quoted so largely from our contemporary's article in order to show the people of this Province that the same opinions we have so repeatedly expressed are also held by those who regard the actions of Messrs Macandrew, Keid and Company from a distance.