THE ACE OF COMPULSION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 914, 6 September 1910, Page 6

THE ACE OF COMPULSION.

-EDUCATION AND MILITARY TRAINING, &i r ) —l notice. by the local papers that a Bill is before Parliament, ■ in■troduced by the Minister for Education, in which it is proposed to make the course of education fre-o and compulsory up-to tho age of 18.' "Freo and compulsory" in the same breath! If, it id the Minister's design to coiiipel youths and girls to attend ordinary public schools up to the age of 18, how does he imagine, the fathers of fair-sized families are going to find the necessaries of life for themselves, their wives, and offspring in the meantime?" Perhaps it , will come as a surprise, to the Minister to learn that there are still scattered throughout New Zealand a small 'percentage ■ ofpersons who have", not shirked their natural responsibilities, and are consequently blessed tor burdened, should the Minister get his own way) with families of six, eight, ;or ten youngsters. How does this Solomon expect that parents' in such cases are to feed and clothe their children aud . themselves- whilst the youngsters are being; crammed with, a lot of superfluous rubbish up to the age of. 18? Yes, with all due respect to those concerned,: from the Minister downwards/1 maintain that New Zealand State' school youngsters,' instead: of having the greater portion of their time given up to learning essentials, are taught an unjusbifiablo amount of useless rubbish. It is notorious that the New Zealand schoolboy is a "wretched writer—this is no doubt attributable in soine degree 'to . the many different. positions ho is ■taught to. write in at the differentcentres, some masters teaching a 'much- : sloped band, others a less . sloped, and others' again the upright "fist," : . In fact, 'writing in. almost every i. position except upside down, is taught, -iwith the result that it; is not at alt-unusual to find all theso. systems combined in. one and the, same sheet of writing' (I speak 1 here as' an expert, and one' who has had' probably wider experience, for .some years than any person' in New Zealand of .-the finished (?) .article). In arithmetic alid composition the sameunsatisfactory state of: things .'occurs, as any employer of the cadet, ..shop-assist-ant, etc., knows to his;cost. If 1 had the misfortune to.be appointed Minister for Education, L would movo . in , tpe' direction' of. specialising in. .writing,, composition,'.'rules of grammar,, arithmetic, ■ and a little book-keeping,. with' a time-sheet-for-the week: somewhat'as -follows:—Writing .exercisosj. fl. hours/ composition, spelling, and ■ grammar (and,- 1 incidentally, . writing ; again); : 9 hours-; arithmetic and book-keeping, 8 ..hours;-history, 1 hour. 5U minutes'; physiology, and,all the rest of.the useless subjects' together, 10. minutes; total, 25 hours per week. A boy thus equipped.' at the af*c of_ 14, would, have little,' trouble' in casting from him the superfluities; and could devote his . whole time:to perfect-himself, ih his life's work.' I'would'not interfere, with, the, technical' classos,. but would keep . them , open' free so long as the ..cost did-'not'- prove'too great a-burden on the long-suffering taxpayer. - If it is not the Minister's intention, however, to' compel the youth to attend tho ordinary school up to 18 years of age, but, instead, to make him- attend, one or more of, theV night, ; technical classes; in .addition' to the ordinary' business of, his lil'e, whether ho or'his parents desire it. or not, l ean only say that this is on a par with the rest of the Government's hateful compulsory legislation, arid the youngster had better not have been born.; Tiiis on top of., the vile slavery:, -law. (compulsory military training) would be the last straw, and the more idea makes tho blood/of any .-decent and humane.person boil. The slavery. ! law,; as it. -nowstarids, practically declares that males between the. ages. of 14 and' 2G shall hot be .allowed a. day's . holiday ,'foi: .■twelve years. Just.fancy! twelvb years, of hateful hideous, abominable in the brutal art of'.wholesale murder,, to the utter exclusion, of any pastime or; recreation, Does, the Government think.that ; any. employer' of labour is going'to be such' a fool' to his : own interests as to allow : . his employees holidays for. recreation, in 'addition to the. arbitrary, arid oppressive absences' on half-days, whole days, and tho occasions of camping-out for training' purposes?, Football,: boating,, cricket, hockey, and such-like recreations will become things of the past, to be replaced by this,murder-drill. • 7 An'd what-'is.,'the-good of it all.. If Germany takes' England (which I aril loyal'enough to think is very unlikely),of course the'colonies go .with it, out aiiy need, of .'exhibition oil the pari of the handful of colonial soldiery. If England and, Germany are,crippled, aald their, navies rendered ~ insignificant in a European .war, the v .bumptiousness of Australia and New Zealand would be like a red rag to a bull to Japan, and in a trice ,we ; should be . Japanese. If England, with her (volunteer) ; navy cannot defend 1 her ' colonies, no puny efforts' .of New, Zealand, (or Australia) would have any : etfect on: the advances of Japan, whose annual natural increase in population is considerably more than the whole population of New,: Zealand. There _is every reason to . suppose, .top, that, in, the facu of. all. these -compulsory, slavery laws, with high-priced provisions. and ' reduced earning capacity (through longer yoars of school attendance. and . wasted time at drill), the natural increase in' population: in New Zealand will ebb to a minimum. " I labour under the hope, however, that the Government will bo literally "hoist with its own .petard," and that freedom will, ere long, be the order of the day ill this country again. Personally speaking, I have been straining every nerve, since-.the slavery law, passed, to scrape . together, with the . aid -of my. boys, .sufficient means to enable mo to depart to a."freo" country (America or England), and not ls\nd there, in a state of; pauperism, but, if the. school ago is going to bo extended, I fear I shall be baulked. I wonder, by the way, if the Government, through its, mouthpiece, the' Minister'for Education, had it in view to make departure from the colony more difficult in the -case. of those who dissent from -the military slavery laws ? As showing how tho compulsory military training is regarded here, I will relate tho following conversation between two business; men a little while aao, almost word for word as I heard it: — .

A said: "How's it going to affect you ? You employ a youth or two, don't you?" ' - .... Said ]\: "It won't affect mo' at all; So-called patriotism is a 'nil' quantity with me, when it appeals to my pocket or injures my business. There are dozens of likely girls training at the 'teoli,' and when I find my work is going to he interfered with, off go tho youths, and I replace them with girls, although I have hitherto objected to the employment of girls in business." Then mention was made of certain hanking 'institutions, and B skid tho business of one or two, if not all, would bo completely dislocated; one had six youths and young men ho thought of training ago out of a staff of nine, and anothor had three out of a staff of four, exclusive of the manager. Anyone with tlinmorest rudiments of actuarial knowledge must see that tho military slavery laws aro going to cost the colony, directly and indirectly, many millions per annum, instead of the few hundreds of thousands prophesied hy the Premier.

Query: Do members of the Legislature placo themselves in tho forefront of this compulsory training, or do they exempt themselves ?—I am, otc. ; ANTI-COMPULSION. [Our correspondent is very much sounder, in his views on primary education than ho is on the subject of compulsory military training.]