The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1855.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 233, 24 January 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1855.

During- the first session of the Provincial Council of Wellington a Commission was appointed by the Superintendent, pursuant to an Act of the Council to enquire into and consider the several systems of education pursued in different countries with a ■view to ascertaining the one best suited to the Province of Wellington. In the report lately published, after a long enquiry on the subject, the Commissioners have come to the following conclusion :—

" The Commission having fully considered the various systems above reported upon, have the honor to offer the following recommendations: 1.. That ftbe Provincial Government should *'ii"o:, from the revenue of the Province, support or assist more than one system of schools.

2...Tbat as regards religious instruction, the system supported by Government should combine the leading features of ihe Irish and the Dutch systems; excluding all sectarian teaching,, sanctioning: the.use of books^puWished by the. Irish Board, as the only medium of religious instruction in the schools aided, by it; a.;d giving one day in the week' on which cliiJdren may attend ministers of their several denominations for special instruction, elsewhere than in the school receiving Government ;iid 'Tnat no aid be given from the Provincial revenue to any school in which any other system of sreligious instruction is adopted". 3. That the Government should not itself attempt to found or maintain schools : (unless Normal,) hut should give'aid to schools established by Districts or other voluntary action. 4. That schools aided by the Government be opeiito sill children on equal terms. 5. That to encourage the establishment of schools an act of Council be passed enabling local rates to ha raised, and for the esta.blisl" inentof District Committees of management. 6. That schools may be established'"by such rates on any principle agreeable to a mnjoritv of the ratepayers of each district, but that the'v - shall not be entitled to aid from the Provincial revenue unless in conformity with recommendation No. 2.

7. That all echools receiving aid should he inspected on hcliaif of ti.o Provincial Government by officers iippointed by the SuperiiitenAent to whom they should report twice in every year.

S. That in partially settled districts ambulatory masters on the X,.nve<,n;ui system should be aided on the same principle asabove. 9. That n sum not exceeding £ ' should l»c placed on ihe estimates for tlie current year for educational |i»rposes ; a portion of which should be appreciated to the purchase of a.

supply of books of the Irish Board for the use of those schools, towards the maintenance of which Government may contribute. That until such books can be procured the balance of the sum of £ may be beneficially expended by aiding in the erection of seliools intended to be carried on hereafter in connection with the Government. •

10. That the expenditure of the grant and all other matters relating- to education in the Province be entrusted to an Educational Board appointed by the Superintendent. 11. That in disposing of1 the Waste Lands of the Province, a reserve not exceeding

per cent, should be made for educational purposes, such reserved lands to be vested in the Board of Commissioners and to be administered by them.''

The Report has raised a storm of discussion at Wellington. Repeated public meetings have been held on the subject, and in consequence of the proceedings at a. large Church of England meeting, the Provincial Council resdved to put off the second reading of the Education Bill until an adjourned meeting shall have been held. Such a promise given at a public meeting appears out of place, and argues the weakness of the Government. Mr. Fox, the chairman of the Commission has avowed himself the author of the report. The Provincial Government are the champions of the measure. The majority of the clergy, headed by Archdeacon. Hadfield, oppose it. Mr. Paul has taken a prominent part in the opposition. If the measure is carried, the two best schools at Wellington, those of the Churches of England and Rome which have educated a ve;y large majority of the children in that town, will receive no state assistance, unless they conform to the Government system of religious instruction. As the subject is one of great interest to us as well as to Wellington, we make no apology for publishing the remarks of the Spec tato?'—o\n- own we must reserve for a future occasion.

We congratulate our fellow settlers on the progress of the Education question since our last remarks. An acknowledgment has been forced from the local Executive of " unseemly baste" in pressing ou the measure, and a postponemeutof its consideration in the Council is conceded in deference to public opinion. Meanwhile sumo significant revelations have been brought to light, illustrative of the character of the Commissioner's Report. Wo noticed from the first a remarkable omission on its title-page of the Mrs. Harasses for whom the document is supposed to speak. It proves to be the work and embodiment of an individual mind for which the solitary name appended is alone re- ' sponsible. " I," said the Provincial Treasurer at the debate in the Thorndon Schoolroom, " am responsible for the statements it contains.'' " Me, Me, adsum gui foci, Ja rae couvcrtito far rum." The Provincial Secretary., " injustice to himself/'urrd to the serious damage of his colleague's cause, took especial pains in] supporting 0 the motion of j'ts adoption by the Council, to*clear himself from a suspicion that it is a true exponent of his v view." His own opinion is, "it is a beginning at tho wrong end." -He is'not for building the educational fabric from the foundalion upwards, like a bricklayer or carpenter, but downwards from the ridge-beam, like a busy bee. The seconder of the motion had not a word to say. The lion. Speaker even entered a written protest disclaiming' identification with every principle asserted. In short, not a single advoca'c, in school-room or in flouncil chamber could be pressed to give in an unqualified assent — except the fond and doating ,parent of the pour forsaken bairn. " At, patur at gnati, sic nos dobnmus amici, Si quod sit vitium, nun fusititlirc, &c. ' Nor has the report proved move fortunate in the trustworthiness of its testimony. The Hew It. Paul, in the evening meeting, "pointed out a considerate discrepancy in its statements with the inj-nest authority in educational statistics, Dr. Kuv SuuttleConh himself. Mr. 'J'ooin.-itli the: ■ valuanle teacher" represented in the report to be a victim to the Church of England svslem of ed.ucauon.as pursued in (he.CttiiterburV settlement, hd's denied the (ruth of theasseriion in }l* only imfortant point. We have since been

assured ion competent, authority (one of t], passengers just landed by the steamer Nelson) that" perhaps the best schools in the colony (! '{ the Nelson Campbellite schools," have VIVI gradually dcolininy, and that a large body,," the most respectable inhabitants of that settle. rneut have within the present week memorialize] their pastor to establish a common school on the Church of England plan.

Experience has before mow taught us to take at its worth a Commissioner's Report. I ts statistics are essentially in the nature of i| le evidence termed " cooked." Nothing less trustworthy than its " facts," except its " Yigures ;''—. its logic somewhat " faulty." Still there j s most times a colourable, pretext of connexion between its foregone conclusion and the r>i d . inises adduced. I« the present,instance there is not even such corroborative pretence. Th e Report opens with a long catalogue of existent or apparent.systems (de quibiis cadem est ratio) in the division, subdivision, super subdivishm seven teemh-century style of the worthy preacher Trusty To ink ins, who figures in the early scenes <>f tlie novel Woodstock. A farcical non sequil% r is the result. Not one of the systems quoted is after all selected for rhe nonce."lnstead thereof,, a strange half-caste" Hihernico—Netherlandish tertinm quid,— semi-Irish semi-Dutch,—is the mouse which creeps out of the parturient mountain. If France instead of Holland hud been one of the countries of its birth, we might have ventured on a pun, and said, the French frog has swelled into the semblance of an Irish bull.

The evidence of adaptability to the necessities of this settlement is, in logical sequence, equally inconclusive. It is contained in an appendix to the report, and so far only lias any apparent connexion with the subject-matter. It is not commented on in the text, nor shown to be erroneous, though without exception it is decisive against the -adoption of the plan proposed. It consists of replies'to a circular of inquiry addressed to ministers of religion resident in the Province. There is an incompleteness in it which strikes one prima facie; it docs not contain a statement from ihe two principal ecclesiastical authorities, the Bishop and Archdeacon of the district. The absence of the Bishop affords a. pretext for his silence, though the evidence is so far defective in its value. But our surprise at misssing a record of opinion from the Venerable President ex officio of our local Board of Education, was still further enhanced by his own explanation of the circumstance, that the Commissioners did not think his opinion of sufficient, practical importance to trouble him with any enquiry on the subject. The four resident clergymen whose replies are printed in the appendii'are unanimously of the Denominational system. The Yei T Rev. J. J. p. O'Pteilly, as representative ol the HoinanCatholic communion, concurs in that opinion. The two Wesleyan ministers *■ are afraid that denominational schools cannot be supported with proper efficiency in this Province;" a fear, we infer, implying- a wish that they could' be. The Primitive Methodists 'would prefer a system similar to that of 'The bntish and Foreign School Society,' as that Socieiy admits the whole of the> Bible." The Established Church of Scotland "would be likely to concur in some general system of religious education such as that known as the British and Foreign, or even the Irish (not Dutch and Irish) system, if the former could not be adopted." One Free Church of Scotland minister does « not see why the Irish system should, be introduced in" New' Zealand, where nearly" all the settlers are Protestants, and resravd tlie tiblc as the sole rulo of the faith." Another does not think that Government schools wouM .be generally ■ acceptable " unless the Bible were used as a text book in them, and unless also (he teachers of them, were members of Evangelical Churches." Such are the popular religious convictions prevalent among a people on whom the Dutch and Irish system is attempted to be turust. 1

Wo submit that we have thus far amply redeemed our pledge to expose tlie fallacies and nnsstateniems on winch the so-called Commissioners report is based. We have &lill many ft rod in pickle, as occasion shall arise. Our conclusion m present/ is, that U u > vcport) a |- lcr all, proves to he, :i jneio pamphlet on education, l« .work of an \ individual, einl)odyin<>- his private view. old Keview or Encyclopaedia un our booK shelf, under the la-ad of" Education*" would have,-supplied a better "article" at no expense to'the public purse.