EDUCATIONAL GRANTS.

Press, Volume I, Issue 13, 17 August 1861, Page 2

EDUCATIONAL GRANTS.

Since our last article on Education appeared, much discussion has taken place in the columns of ' The Lyttelton Times ' on points connected with this subject. Of the questions debated, by far the most important are these two ; Firstly, to whom the management of the public grant should be entrusted: Secondly, whether local subscriptions towards the maintenance of schools should be required from the several parishes or districts in which they are established. We commend both these points, but especially the first, to the careful consideration of our readers. Of the various conceivable plans for the management of an Educational Grant, our choice seems to lie between three. It may be entrusted either 1 to the Superintendent and Executive Council, or 2 to an Educational Board, either wholly distinct, or of which the Superintendent and Executive should form an integral part, or 3, as at present, to the heads of the several religious bodies. Neither of these courses is unobjectionable ; the question is, which seems least open to serious objection ? We confess at once, that the plan first mentioned seems to our minds to merit least approval. We will give our reasons. A work of such vital importance as the superintendence of the public education of the Province —for we need not say that .the superintendence wall practicality belong to those who hold the purse —ought undeniably to be entrusted to men who are specially fitted for it. But it is obvious that neither the Superintendent, nor the Executive, aye or are ever likely to be, appointed with reference to any special fitness for this work. The most popular man of the day—he will be the Superintendent; his political friends and supporters, or those who can command a majority in the Provincial Council —they will form the Executive. There may be exceptions, but, as a rule, they will know little of the educational wants of the several districts, or of the best means of supplying them. The almost certain consequence would be that they would put the leading strings into the hands of the Inspector, and be guided by him in everything connected with the subject. The Inspector in fact would become the Minister of Public Instruction, though he might not have a portfolio, or a seat in the cabinet. Now of course our remarks have no particular reference to the gentleman at present holding that office ; he might cease to hold it to-morrow without in the least affecting our view of the matter; for if we had the very best Inspector the world could produce, would we consent to submit our whole public instruction to his dictation ? As well become French or Prussians at once. A marvellous uniformity might be the result.

finally equalling perhaps even that wondrous feat of centralism lately accomplished by a French Minister of Instruction, who boasted that, as he sat in his sanctum at Paris, he knew when the clock struck twelve, the exact lesson which was being deUvered in every public school in France. Such uniformity, we do not hesitate to say is deformity, and can issue only in cramped action, and stunted growth. Let us have no Minister of Public Instruction, no essence of centralism such as this. Let the Executive retain that most effective and useful engine, Inspection; let it be empowered also, if you will, to control and check in certain well-considered ways, and within well-defined limits, the action of those to whom the distribution of the Grant, the superintendence of the schools shall be entrusted, but Ne sulor ultra erepidam —let it not be saddled with a responsibility which it is not fitted to discharge. Even if some of its individual members were competent for the task, yet among the many disturbing circumstances, and suddenly arising emergencies to which all governments are subject, and not least these of our New Zealand provinces, the unexciting, unobtrusive subject of Education would too often fail to receive its due share of attention. The Inspector would be left to unravel every educational knot, to determine the answer to be given to every troublesome application. No one who knows anything of the power which may be, and constantly is, acquired by the only member of a body who understands the intricacies of the business with which the body has to deal, or even by an assessor or adviser of such a body, will be disposed to dispute our assertion.

Assuming then that the Executive is ill-fitted for the administration of an Educational Grant, to whom shall we commit this responsible duty ? The second plan we have mentioned is that of an Educational Board, of which the officers of the Executive might or might not be ex officio members. This point indeed is of comparatively little moment, since, as we have before remarked, those who understand the subject to be dealt with are those who really manage the affairs of a mixed Board. Now we cannot help thinking that we are too small a community for an Educational Board to flourish in. We question whether the sphere of action is wide enough to require such machinery, or to impart sufficient dignity and importance to its functions ; we question moreover whether we possess the materials, out of which a Board could be formed, which should command confidence by the known fitness of its members, and at the same time be raised above the suspicion of local influences and denominational bias. You must include all or none of the heads of the religious,iodies; in the one case you exclude those who are best acquainted with the educational wants of the Province, and with the means of remedying them ; in the other, you run the grave risk of introducing jealousy and discord, where all has hitherto been harmony and good will. These are some of the difficulties and objections which appears to us to militate against the institution of an Educational Board. The third plan open for our adoption is that which is at present in operation, namely to hand over the grant in large fixed portions, to be determined by the Census Returns, to the heads of the organized religious bodies for further distribution. It be easy enough to find objections to this plan; but it is something that it has been tried, and not found altogether wanting ; it has been for nearly five years m operation, and during that period no serious complaints of hardship, no gross cases of abuse have come before the public. It would seem to be the most practical aud sensible course to improve upon a plan which has been so long in operation, and the working of which has been not unsuccessful, rather than to run the risk of distnrbing the whole system by new and untried experiments. The present plan, or we should rather say, the manner in which it has been carried out, is undoubtedly susceptible of improvement. We venture to think, for instance, that the grant might be distributed on something more like definite principles, with reference to numbers, and other conditions as in England, and that certain fixed rules of distribution should be published for general information. These rules, if it were thought desirable, might be made subject to the approval of the Superintendent and Executive Council. Some check "nght also be retained by the Executive on the multiplication of small schools, and in general, on the establishment or subsidizing of new schools.

The recent institution of local committees will also tend, we believe, as far as regards schools connected with the Church of England, to introduce greater regularity into the mode of distribution. Subject to such improvements, however, our advice would best be expressed by the conservative motto Quieta non tnovere. On the subject of local subscriptions we have less to say. We agree in the main with the views expressed by " A'Parish Curate " in the columns of the ' Lyttelton Times.' We believe that if people are let alone, they will in many cases come forward of their own accord with subscriptions, whether for the purpose of aiding in the establishment of new schools, or for improving the efficiency of a long-established school, in the success of which they have become interested. But if you demand subscriptions, you will cause great dissatisfaction, if you do not wholly defeat your object; for private liberality is of its very nature spontaneous, it will not be forced. Besides, if it is necessary to supplement the grant by loca] equivalents, then in all fairness let the equivalent be raised in the shape of a local rate. Let all bear their fair share of the burden, and let not the few willing horses be over-laden. At the same time there could be no objection, we should think, to some encouragement being afforded to local subscriptions, (assuming that a rate will not be proposed) by including among the rules of distribution a provision for allotting a larger proportion of the grant to any district in which subscriptions to a certain amount should be raised. Having returned to the subject of Education, we propose to lay before our readers in subsequent numbers some account of the very interesting and valuable Report of the Royal Commission on Popular Education recently laid before the Imperial Parliament.