Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1869. THE EDUCATION RATE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1020, 6 February 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1869. THE EDUCATION RATE.

We gather from a letter in our contemporary of Thursday that a movement is ou foot against the education rate. He says : — " I see by a nume-rously-signed requisitiou of householders of Napier, now in circulation, that it is their intention to resist by every legitimate means the carrying out of that unjust tax." We can quite conceive the possibility of successful resistance to the collection of this rate, although we should regret much to see such resistance offered. ;That the common schools of the province must either receive extraneous aid or fall to the ground, is, we think, undeniable. Where is that assistance to come from ? Our contemporary suggests that voluntary aid should be depended upon for this year. Such voluntary aid, would, we fear, prove a myth ; but we should be only too glad to be convinced to the contrary. Objection i 3 taken to the uniform rate, which is said to involve a serious injustice. The writer we have already quoted says : — " Let us have a just and equable direct tax — a property and income tax, and not compel the laboring man, with his hard-earned five shillings per day, to pay as much as the lords of Hawke's Bay." Imprimis, we know of no laboring meu who work for five shillings, nor any "Lords of Hawke's Bay," in a pecuniary sense, at least. But, setting this aside, we would ask — For whose benefit is tujs tax imposed ? Surely not for that of the " Lords" aforesaid nor for that of the wealthier members of the community generally, whose children, as a rule would not go to a common school. The tax is imposed for the benefit mainly of the laboring classes — that the blessings of education may be brought within the reach of the more struggling members of our community. Should a successful resistance be offered to the rate collector, the loss will not fall upon the Grovernment nor upon members of Council — not one of whom, we believe, would ever benefit by the rate to the extent of sixpence. It will fall, at first, upon the working classes ;, ultimately, it will vitally affect the character of the whole community ; and, in that view, we ask those of our readers who think of joining this movement (if there really be such a movement) to pause before doing so. Some excellent remarks upon the subject of public education will be found elsewbere, in the report of a speech delivered in Auckland by Mr. Macfarlaue, which we commend to the perusal of our readers generally.