FREE EDUCATION.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 98, 24 October 1881, Page 3

FREE EDUCATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST. Sib— The Thorndon School Committee have issued another circular, which is signed by Mr. Kooh, requesting- the parents of children attending the infant school to contribute ono shilling per quarter towards defraying contingent expenses in connection with scholastic matters. Now, sir, the shilling per quarter is in itself not muoh; but at the same time it must be borne in mind that the course pursued by this com--mitteo is a thoroughly illegal one, and *" altogether subversive of the fundamental principles of the Education Act. If this action of the committee is oalmly {submitted to both by the parents of children and the Press, the ultimate result will not be difficult to fore toll. It means tho utter demolition of our grand system of education, and the effect will be most keenly felt by the working classes. If I, as a parent, refuse to pay— or, in the euphemistic wording of the circular, to "contribute" — this illegal blaok-mail, what is th« result ? My ohildren areimmediately taunted with the poverty of their parents by the childron who pay — I beg pardon, "contribute" — the shilling, and as a consequence the life of my children at school is made the reverse of pleasant. Cannot the Government prevent this opon violation of the Education Act ? You would, Bir, be conferring an inestimable boon to a great many parents if you would call tho attention of the proper authorities to this action of the Thorndon School Committee. I am, &0., T> t TEH . Thorndon, 14th October.

Will some member of tho Eoyal Astronomical Society kindly answer this ?—lf? — If the solar orb be apparent to our planet the earth, why should it be xegarded as its sun P Who haa ever been pushed, by a shoulder of mutton?