The Press. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1896. PRIMARY EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9521, 14 September 1896, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1896. PRIMARY EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Our. readers will note that we have to-day inaugurated a new feature in the Press—the publication of signed articles by leading public men and others on subjects of general interest. If this departure meets, as we hope it will, with tbe support of the leaders of thought in this colony, the result should he of distinct value in assisting to shape public opinion and aiding in the general intellectual advancement. We consider ourselves fortunate in being able to commence tho series with an article by the author of the New Zealand Education Act, giving his views on the workiug of our present system of primary education after it has been nearly twenty years on its trial. Mr. Bowen's valuable and suggestive paper, we feel sure, will be read with interest in all parts of the colony. It will be seen that he does not regard the 'system as being by any means perfect. He has put his linger on several weak spots, where improvement is possible, and we hope that his suggestions will he carefully considered, and bear good fruit.

It may be interesting at this juncture to refer briefly to the circumstances uuder which the Education Bill was introduced and passed into law. It was on the 24th of July, 1877, that Mr. Bowen, who then represented Kaiapoi in the House of Kepresentatives, and was Minister for Justice in the A.txinson Government, brought down his now famous Bill.' He made a long and exhaustive speech on the first reading, instead of waiting until the second reading, in accordance with the usual practice. He explained that up to that time it had been entirely left to the provinces to deal, as they had the means, with the question of education, and the consequence was that there had been a very great diversity, not only in the amount of teaching power iv the different parts of the country, but in the average attendance of children and in the amount of school accommodation. He showed that the North Island was very much worse off than the South, the average attendance of children in the former being only 32 per cent., as against 45 per cent. in the South Island. It seems also to have been -the general practice to charge school fees. Mr. Bowun's Bill abolished school fees. He estimated the average cost of educating the children would be M per head per annum, and to provide this amount he proposed to vote £'d 10s per head from the Consolidated Fund and to levy a capitation fee of 10s per head on every child of school age in the colony whether it went to school or not, subject to certain exemptions laid down in the Bill. This proposal for a capitation fee was struck out iv Committee, and so primary education in New Zealand was made absolutely free. Mr. Bowkn's Bill also proposed to open the schools each day with the reading of the Bible and the Lord's Prayer, but this clause was struck out in Committee. Most of the opposition to the Bill was really directed against these two clauses. The second reading was carried by 41 to 6, but seven members paired against the Bill. All the prominent so-called " Conservatives " of the day such as Major Atkinson, Captain Russell, Messrs Bowen, Bryce, Ormond, Rolleston, Stevens and Whitaker voted in favour of the Bill. It was opposed by such leading " Liberals." as Sir George Grey and Messrs J. C. Brown, Sheeh-u., Bunny and Rees. Mr. Ballance, it is only fair to add, supported the Bill.

The beneficial effects of the measure were at once apparent in the impetus which it gave to primary education. Mr. Bowkn, in his speech, said the European population of the colony was, in round numbers, 400,000, and the number of children of school age —that is between five and fifteen— was about 98,000, a remarkably large proportion. The average attendance of children all over the colony was 38,600, and he estimated that by adopting a strict system of computing the average attendance they would be safe in calculating it at 40,000. As a matter of fact, by the last quarter of 1878, the first complete year that the Act had been in operation, the average attendance had risen to 50,639. That number has now more than doubled, the working average last year being 108,394. The full number on the roll was 129,856. This is larger than would be accounted for by the increase in population, which has risen from 400,000, or to be more exact 399,440, to 700,303. We do not yet know the present number of children of school age, but probably the proportion is not so large as compared with the general population as in 1877. It is a fair inference from the figures, therefore, that whereas in 1877 only a little moro than one-half of the children of school age were on the rolls of the public schools, and considerably less than one-half were in average daily attendance, there is now only a comparatively small fraction who do not avail themselves of our national system. The number of schools has about doubled since 1877, having risen from 730 to 1464, and the teachers have similarly increased from

1611 to 2866. The expenditure has also expanded, but not in the same proportion as the number of children. In 1878 tho Education Boards received Parliamentary grants amounting to £817,928, of which £216,666 was for maintenance and £101,257 for building. The receipts from reserves, &c, brought up their net income to £887,-86. Last year their net income from ail sources was only about £467,61-1, and of this only some £15,000 was expended on buildings. Of course the cost of administering the central department has to be added in each case.

From the point of view of bringing instruction within the reach of every child in New Zealand, it will be seen that the Act has done its work well, while the extent to which the primary schools are thronged with the children of all classes in the community shows how thoroughly this boon of national education is appreciated. That there is room for improvement in the kind of instruction given, however, is very clearly pointed out by Mr. Bowjex. In some respects we have gone on a wrong principle. There is a tendency to turn the children out in a mechanical fashion, all pretty much in the same mould. There is also too great a disposition to give them a smattering of many things rather than a thorough grounding in the more essential. Mr. Bowen show's how the teaching could ba made more inspiriting and stimulating, more useful in forming the character, by devoting less attention to cram and aiming more at developing the reasoning powers. It is this part of his paper which we commend more particularly to the earnest consideration of all who are interested in our system of national education. Meanwhile, with all its faults, that system is yet one of which its founder and the Parliament which passed it into law may justly feel proud; while the democracy of New Zealaud knows that, besides this priceless boon which it enjoys, all the so-called "reforms" of more recent legislation are as tinsel by the side of refined gold.