The Press. SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1889.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7253, 12 January 1889, Page 4

The Press. SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1889.

The announcement that the Railway Board has at last been appointed will be welcome news to the majority of our readers, although at first sight some surprise may be felt at its constitution. It has been generally understood that both Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Hannby would be members of the Board, for the reason, that both gentlemen have exhibited undoubted! ability and capacity in the discharge of the duties they have hitherto been called upon to fulfil. Mr. Maxwell's drawbacks, it is true, are well , known, and it has been felt that it would have been a blunder to have given him supreme control. But he is entitled to all credit for the enormous change which has come over the administration of > the railways daring the last few years. Consequently to have passed him over altogether and deprived/the colony of the benefit of his experience and j abilities would have been a serious' mistake. Mr. Hannat, too, has been an; able and conscientious public servant, has won the" confidence and respect of the commercial community throughout the Middle Island, and no objection what-, ever can be taken to his appointment: as one of the Commissioners. On the' contrary we imagine it will be universally, approved.

; Coming to tfce other 1 appointment, that of Chief Commissioner, some surprise will probably at first sight be felt on learning ..that Mr. Mcl£errow has been eeleoted. It was, hoped that some experienced railway; official would have been obtained from England or America. This hope, how-; ever, has not been realised. In such: circumstances the Government rightly made up their minds to make aa appointment in the colony, and the. choice has fallen upon Mr. MoKbeeow. , This gentleman, of course, has no practical knowledge of railway manage-; ment, but the same remark would pro-' bably have applied to any one who< could have been selected here. Neither has he chad .a training : . in .com-: meroial matters. But the men of business training and ; experience who could have been selected are not available, simply because such gentle men would not be disposed to abandon their business pursuits for a position in the public service. But although Mr. McKerrow does not possess the experience and training we have been , speaking of, .he is nevertheless one of the ablest public servants in the colony. He has administered, the Land Department with ability and zeal. He is prudent, cautious, and' conscientious, and he is endowed with: j abundance of determination of purpose. Above all he has the rare gift of, making things pleasant without giving; way when he should stand firm. These are • the qualities which .are! mainly required in the Chief Commis-" sioner of Railways, combined as they are in Mr. McKbbrow's case with! plenty of common sense. In accepting the position of Chief Commissioner he has undertaken a task of no small difficulty and responsibility. The political pressure which has been brought to bear upon the management of the railways has of late years been a growing and even menacing evil. In determining to hand over the New Zealand railways to the absolute control of a Board of Commissioners, the Legislature resolved to put an end, once and for all, to the exercise of undue influence on the part of politicians. The proceedings of the Board will naturally be watched with eager interest on the part of the community Jat large,. Although placed in a position of independence of Parliamentary control, its members will be expected to guard the interests of the revenue on the one hand, and consult the public advantage on the other. The Board has, as we have said, undertaken a task of great responsibility, and aa long as it discharges its duties with the objects we have just named kept constantly in view, it will deserve the rapport and confidence of the public.

Wβ have been shown a copy of some new regulations sanctioned by the Governing Body of Christ's College for the promotion, it is said, of a' feeling of esprit de corps among the different divisions of the school. The paper containing these regulations has not been sent to us officially, but as Christ's College is an important public institution, ire make no apology for callingatfcention

to it. The first regulation is that " all' boys " —whfcn ; eltjfrelsoiiFis explained to mean day boya and boarders— " shall be required to attend the services in the College Chapel on Sundays, except in those cases in which parents may express in writing their desire that their sons should not so attend." The next regulation is rather longer, ? bat;'ft jßtatea* in effect thst there shall b© a calling over of names at the school every half-holiday at 4 which every boy shall be required to answer to his name." To this there are three exceptions. The first is the parents' desire expressed in writihgto the contrary, second obtaining an exeat, or, third, the boy being at the time engaged in one o£ the recoghise'd school games.

We feel sure that none of our readers will feel otherwise than strongly interested in the success of the school, and, particularly, in the promotion of a spirit of etprit de corps among the lads. It is indeed one of the pleasantest things about Christ's College that the boys have long been known to have this spirit, and are highly proud of their reputation in regard to it. Whether the regulations now proposed are the best suited to increase it, is another question; and we trust we shall be pardoned for doubting whether they have been quite sufficiently considered. Take, for instance, the calling over at 4 p.m. on the half holidays. It seems to be forgotten that a considerable number of the boys who have been in the habit of attending Christ's College as day scholars come from not inconsiderable distances. They are consequently absent ftom home almost the whole day every day in the week. The half-holidays are the only days on which their parents and brothers and sisters can expect to see anything of them. Now, while we quite feel that esprit de corps among schoolboys is an excellent thing, we do not altogether hold that it is to be cultivated at the expense of the home affections. Let the boys be thoroughly good, schoolboys, if you-will/but, to be-that, they must first be good home boys, and; the new regulations, in our judgment, go too far in their interference with this primary principle. Still more objectionable we cannot but think is the first regulation. We are informed by a note that there are two chapel services on Sundays at 11 a.m. add p.m., which latter is to be changed during winter to 5 p.m. The new rule will involve the necessity to every boy of four distinct journeys; every Sunday backwards and forwards between his own home and the College chapel, and will practically break up alto-: gether .the."Sunday at home "with all its pleasant associations. . Far rather, we should say, lee a boy attend his; own place of worship with his father and mother than be separated from them altogether on that d»y> on the plea of promoting a stronger feeling of esprit de corps between himself and his; school fellows. This objection applies! in all cases. It applies strongly' eten' where the parents are of the communion of the Church of England ; and \ still more forcibly, we need not say, , where they'i belong to some other religious connection. - It has been the glory of the; school, that while holding " ; up ; ip[ Jits own • practice the principles of sound Churohism, its 7 doors are cordially open to all who," of whatever* creed, may ia have the benefit of Its ■instructions. Tne.new rules appear to us to. go dangerously far towards deprivingjit of thia character, Let us not be told that all this is provided against by the > liberty given to parents tti dissent in writing frbm both the above-mentioned regulations. It is quite true that thdy do so provide, But we can, have no, in saying that: tide . provision 1 is quite illusory. We should have said. so a priori. But jit is a matter unfortunately on which there has been abundant experience. The friction caused by the similar "conscienceclause" at Home is notoriously one, of' the. chief difficulties in working the English Education Act. With regard to the holiday,; indeed, it certainly Ought not to be necessary. fact • that a boy does not stay after school hours is surely sufficient evidence that- his parents wish him,' as they naturally would, to be at home, The fact, too, that on the Sunday he does ■ not- come- to the College Chapel ought surely to be equally clear evidence to the of the College that in the attempt they are now niakiftg to bring a different system they will be trespassing unduly - upon the privileges and r sanctities of the home. We have no doubt whatever that the new regulations have, be#nf ranged witK the, best intentions, and, we trust we need not say that we are as earnestly animated as'the promoters of' these regulations can be ;<bj! a desire for the' welfare ot the school. We shall therefore be glad to hear that the matter, has uudergone re-consideration.