THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, December 14, 1850.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 458, 14 December 1850, Page 166

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, December 14, 1850.

Journals become more neceuary at men become more equal and indiridualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to tuppoie that they ■wrre only to secure liberty : they maintain civilization. Da Toc«oav(U.K ( Of Democracy in America, vol. ir,, p. SOO.

It is with some reluctance that we again notice the proposed Canterbury College, but are compelled to do so by another letter from Senex Albus, reiterating the] statements contained in his fprmer espistle, that it was intended to found a College by subscription in the new settlement, while a similar institution, provided for by part of the purchase* money for the land, was suffered to remain in abeyance. The hallucination our correspondent labours under in this respect is singular ; and having once got the idea into his head, he evidently is determined not to relinquish it if he can so help. Notwithstanding the disappointment we may cause our chivalrous correspondent by showing him that the object against which he directs his lance is a windmill and not a castle, or that one College at Canterbury does not mean two, we must, as a faithful journalist, set him right in the matter, though the fiction he has set up may be pleasing to him.

We thought the absurdity of founding two Colleges in an infant settlement that may be said to be yet without a dwellinghouse, was sufficient of itself to disprove our correspondent's reasoning, however ingeniously contrived and advanced — forget^ ting the old proverb, that men are not to be convinced against their wills; but as it seems necessary to meet argument by fact, we shall now do so.

Before us lies a Prospectus, lately issued by tbe authority of the Canterbury Association, headed, " Appeal for Aid in behalf of the Diocese to be formed in connexion with the Canterbury settlement, New Zealand;" and from this we make a short extract : —

"1. A new Diocese is about to be formed in connexion with the Canterbury settlement, which last will be a new Province, added to the realms of the Sovereign of England. "2. This Diocese will include the whole of the Middle and Southern Islands of New Zealand, comprising Nelson, and other importtant districts. "3. By the wise and munificent system of colonisation which has been applied to th* Canterbury settlement, ample funds will be, eventually, provided for the Church in that part of the Diocese.

"4. But at first some difficulty will probably be experienced in planting the Church fully, systematically, and deeply, even in the Canterbury settlement, without liberal aid from the faithful in the mother country, towards the erection and endowment of churches, the support of travelling missionaries, and the forma? tion of a College, designed to be the centre of a sound system of Church education and theological training: insasmuch as institutions which will endure to the benefit of succeeding generations, and yet which must be immediately provided, require a larger outlay than either can be in the nature of the case, or in fairness ought to be, charged upon the Ecclesiastical Fund, which will in the first instance be available." 1

The object of this appeal is then more particularly stated to be — 1. The erection and part endowment of Churches ? 2. The support of travelling Clergymen; 3. The endowment of a Theological Professor in the College ; 4. The endowment of Scholarships and Fellowships in the College; and, 5. Tha erection of an Industrial School for children of the Native population. Next follows the prospectus of the' College itself., printed by us a week or two since, and then this letter from the Secretary of the Association : — " Office of the Canterbury Association, . 27th May, 1850. "The friends of colonisation are invited to contribute towards the establishment of a College, to be founded on the authority of the Canterbury Association, on the principles, and on the scale laid down in the accompanying paper, at Lyttelton, in the Canterbury settlement, in New Zealand. It is proposed to appropriate to this purpose tbe sum of £6,000 from the Ecclesiastical Fund of the settlement itself. This is the sum which was announced in the Prospectus of the undertaking as properly applicable to the foundation pF a-Collegiate Institution on a scale commensurate with the wants of tbs colony in its outset. But, inas-

much as a much larger sum — not less than £20,000, including such an amount of endowment as is requisite to give the College a character of stability and permanence— is needed for its foundation in tbe manner now proposed, and the present is thought a good opportunity for the establishment of an institution of this character, of which the benefits should extend greatly beyond the limits of tbe Canterbury settlement alone, the Committee of the Canterbury Association have undertaken to recommend it to the general support of the friends of Church education in the colonies. " By order of the Committee of Management, " H. F. Alston, Secretary."

This we think must show Senex Albus that he has been running his head against a jvall, as far as the two Colleges at Cantes/ BHry are concerned, though what system of education should be adopted at Canterbury, or whether a College should be suffered, to be established there at all, are subjects Vm which our correspondent may fairly exercise his controversial powers when a Canterbury newspaper shall be set up, and he can persuade its editor to receive his communications, for we are bound out of regard to our own readers to say, that they will be out of place in the Nelson Examiner.

While on the subject of the proposed College at Canterbury, we will give an extract from a speech delivered at Ipswich on the 30th of May last, by the Rev/JT. Jackson, who has been appointed Bishop o*f the new Diocese. The outline of the plan of education intended to be pursued, which the rev. gentleman here sketches, will generally be thought sound and practical, but whether it can be carried out in the infancy of the settlement, without t serious waste of means, will be the question :—: —

"The Canterbury Association propose to employ one-third of the whole monies received from the sale of land, in other words, to devote £1 for every acre sold, to the building churches, the erection of parsonages, thY endowment of clergymen, the foundation of 'schools for primary and secondary instruction ; and last, but not least in point of enduring interest and importance, in the establishment of a college. Upon these matters I can speak with greater confidence than upon points of political economy connected with the settlement. The first arrangement, I trust, will be practically adopted on board the emigrant vessels, and no effort on my part shall be left untried to secure its success — my endeavour will be to get a well-trained schoolmaster, if possibles certificated under the new system adopted by! Her Majesty's Government, to go out with every emigrant ship. (Hear, hear.) Ido not mean to take schoolmasters who are not worthy of tbe first situations in tbe mother country ; I do not mean to be contented with the waifs and estrays of other pursuits. If I may be excused for speaking of myself, I have been for several years at the head of a large institution fgrtraining up national schoolmasters ; and several of these have placed themselves unreservedly^^ my disposal, to further in the Canterbury settlement the purpose of education. If we are -to grow men from the peasantry of the colony, to form the next generation, we must give them the best education, adapting that education, at the same time, to the purposes pointed out by their probable future, calling, in the order of God's Providence. (Hear, hear.) But in addition, we contemplate the establishment of a college. This is |to embrace two departments — one is to be called the public school, the other the collegiate department. The public . school department is to be on the plan of the k old English Grammer Schools, with substantially the same discipline and the same course of instruction. Believing as Ido that instruction in the languages of Greece and Rome forms the best mental discipline for a boy at school, so I intend the Canterbury boys, sons of gentlemen, to learn Latin and Greek, as well, it may be hoped, as if they enjoyed the advantages of Eton or the Charter Houee. (Appplause.) And I shall give hostages for the carrying out of this part of tbe plan, for I mean, if my life is spared, that my own boys shall go to tbe Canterbury grammer school. (Applause.) [ am glad to mention that in the collegiate department, a clergyman, who has won the highest honours at Oxford, has kindly undertaken the classical course of instruction, on such a plan that the commencement of the grammer- school department will be made on board ship. But this is not all. It is not for me now to say anything about the practice at Cambridge with respect to the right mode of teaching mathematics ; but I think it will be generally admitted that a sound knowledge of geometry forms the foundation of mathematical studies, the best security for accurate inductive habits of thought. Euclid will be taught to every pupil. It is also intended to teach geology ; besides which every boy will learn the French language ; lectures being delivered from time to time on the elements of chemistry, and natural philooopby ; the elder boys being provided with a laboratory to enable them to pursue their researches. This is a very important feature, as has been shown in the discovery of a vein of valuable copper ore jn Australia. Mr. Francis Dutton, who, with another gentleman, was the discoverer of the Kapunda copper mine, tells us, in a work entitled "South Australia and its Mines," that the mineral wat seen first as a large protruding mass of claj slate, strongly tinged and impregnated with tbe green carbonate of copper. His first impression was, that the rock was covered with a beautiful

green moss, but on alighting from his horse, he found, by breaking off a piece from it, that the tinge was as bright in the fracture as on the surface. His acquaintance with mineralogy was not sufficient to enable him to pronounce on the precise character of the rock, but he had little doubt that it was tinged with copper, from the close resemblance of the colour to verdigris. Ever since his schooldays he had retained the habit of examining rocks and stones, whenever bis attention was arrested by any curious appearance in them ; a habit which he had acquired at Hofwyl, De Fellenberg'a celebrated establishment. This discovery of copper, humanly speaking, saved the colony from bankruptcy at a most critical period of its existence ; and it was owing to tbe little knowledge of minerals which a boy had gained fl^ sdiool, not, I regret to say, in England, but in Switzerland. (Cheers.)

" It is therefore very important that proper attention be given to these subjects in the new school and college which it is proposed shall be founded. (Hear, hear.) Then there will be the foundations of scholarships as tbe rewards of successful talent and industry in the public school department, to be enjoyed in the collegiate department, an arrangement which is viewed as necessary to the success of both institutions. It is intended that these scholar* ships shall be called by the names of their respective founders. I take it that we ehajl have many such exhibitions founded by the free donations of gentlemen in the mother country. (Hear, hear.) It is proposed also that the 4 college shall be the means of education td a much larger body of people than the college school will supply. I invite gentlemen, who wish to connect the names of distinguished friends, whether alive or gone to their reisard, with an object of enduring interest and itaportance, and those who wish to associate their own benevolence w4th Buch objects, to found liberal prizes in the college, such prizes to bo identified for ever with tbe names of the founders. (Hear, bear.) One gentleman has already given £650 as a start towards an exhibition, to be identified for ever with the name of a distinguished individual once conk nected with the colonies — the late Mr. Charles Buller. (Hear, hear.) The Canterbury As- 1 sociation will vote towards the funds of the college £6,000. I hope to have plain buildings of wood, strong and permanent, in the second or third pointed style of architecture, such as should do no disgrace if they stood next to that beautiful old house of yonrs in Ipswich. But we contemplate an upper department. This will embrace four divisions, theological classical, mathematical and civil engineering, and agricultural. The theological department^ will be confined only^to four or five gentlemen at first — those who may go out with the intention .of pursuing their studies with a view to holy xfrders. So far as I can forsee, I have every hope that the system will be effectually carried out. The standard of theological knowledge* will be in every case the same as that required by the English bishops from the candidates for holy orders. The classical division will, as a general rule, include all the students. In the Civil Engineering division, we shall have an engineer to give an elementary course oLinstruction in Physics, and Industrial Mechanics, especially in such as are applicable to the wants' and capabilities of a new country. The practical application of the mechanical powers — the strength of materials, especially of New Zealand stone and woods, with specimens of mineral*--all these will come under due supervision. J, do not see why we should not test the qualities of coal, just as they are tested at the College of Civil Engineers at Putney, near London. Tbe construction of roofs, bridges, canals, locks, .and mills, will also be attended to, and 4fer,m the chief studies in this department; whilst, '% am glad to say, we have secured the services of a good practical mechanic, who will be able to make models of various kinds of construction. But in a country which derives its wealth from agricultural produce, it will be obviously desirable to introduce an agricultural element in any scheme of higher public instruction. I have thought of making this course compulsory on the part of the student, but I have been met with the objection, 'Do you mean to say a gentleman is to learn how to give a drench to a cow ?' (Laughter.) My answer is, * Yeß, literally, if cows are to form a part of our valuable produce — if our California is to be derived from the growth of sheep and cattle, we must, in some way or other, have gentiemen capable of acting in cases of emergency, MH^b efficiency and success/ (Applause.) So ther^ will be taught, at least, the elements of farriery in the college, by a person who has been already engaged for that purpose ; besides which, there will be a small stipend offered to some medical gentleman in the colony, to teach the elements of medicine and surgery to all those who shall* be educated in tbe college. All these things are necessary to meet emergencies ; for every young man who becomes a colonist ought to be able, in case of accident in tbe bush, to set a bone, if the fracture be not of too complicated a character; and in the latter case, he ought to be acquainted with the preliminary steps for giving relief to the sufferer, until assistance more competent shall be able to arrive. (Applause.) Having said this much, I do not t now think it necessary to go into further details." __________

Literary Institution. — We are glad to be able to announce the arrival of the chief part ofthe books some time since ordered for the Institution, to the valu9 of £60, the unpaid balance of the £100 donation promised to the library by the New Zealand Company. On an application recently made to the Directors by our pre-

sent Resident Agent, ihe above balance was at^ once placed at the disposal of the Committee of the Institution, and, anticipating this result, an order for books was sent home simultaneously with the application, and the following, which formed the greater portion of the booka ordered, have been received :— Family Library, HO volume*, consisting of Life of Marlborough, Life and Voyages of Columbus, Life of Alexander the Great, Napoleon's Expedition to Russia, 2 vols., Venetian History, 2 vols., History of the Bastile, Narratives of Peril and Suffering, 2 vols., Croker's Fairy Tales, Washington Irving's Sketch Book, 2 vols.; Salmagundi, Lives of British Artists, 6 vols., Lives of Banditti and Robbers, Life of Bonaparte, 2 vols., Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity, Memoir of the Plague in 1665, History of the Anglo. Saxons, Ruins of Ancient Cities, 2 vols.. Life of Richard 1., History of British India, 4 vols., Life of Ali Pasha, Court and Camp of Bonaparte, Wesley's Natural Philosophy, 3 vols., Life of Cicero, Chronicles of London Bridge, Lives of Individuals who raised themselves from Poverty to Eminence or •Fortune, Mutiny at Spithead and the Nore, Sketch of the Reformation in England, Lives of British Physicians, Life and Writings of Cervantes, Life and Travels of Bruce, Trial of Charles 1., Deraonology and Witchcraft, by Sir W. Scott, Six Months in the West Indies, Life of Washington, 2 vols., Life of Nelson, Natural History of Insects, 2 vols., Tytler's Universal History, 6 vols.-, Letters on Natural Magic, Life of Peter the Great, Classical Tour through Italy, 3 vols., Voyages of Columbus and his Companions, History of the Jews, 3 vols., Life of Mahomet, Life of Sir Isaac Newton, Tour in South Holland, Knickerbocker's History of NeV York, Mutiny of the Bounty, Lives of Scottish Worthies, 3 vols., Lar.dor's Travels in Africa, 2 vols. Pictorial History of England, 8 vols., Cook's Voyages (Piotoiial Edition), 2 vols., Fielding's complete* works, Swift's complete works, 2 vols., De Foe's complete works, 3 vols., Burn's complete works, Moore's complete Poetical Works, Sterne's complete Works, Campbell's Poems, Southey's complete Poetical Work, Carlyle's French Revolution, Cromwell's Letter's and Speeches, Past and Present, Heroes and Hero- Worship, Chartism, IB vols., Alison's History of Europe, 20 vols., Mill's Principles of Political Economy, 2 vols., Book of the Farm, Nichol's Architecture of the Heavens, Loudon's Horticulturist, Hoare on the Cultivation of the Vine, Najural Philosophy (Library of Useful Knowledge) — Treatises on Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Heat, Optics, Double Refraction and Polarization of Light, Sir Isaac Newton's Optics, Optical Instruments, the Thermometer and Pyrometer, Electricity, Galvanism, Magnetism, Electro- Magnetism, Astronomy, History of Astronomy, Mathematical Geography, Navigation, Chemistry, Botany, Animal Physiology, Animal Mechanics, 4 vols. Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit, Lyell's Travels in North America, 2 vols., Emerson's Essays and Lectures, Johnson's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology, Macculloch on Wine Making, Treatise on Geometry, by Dr. ' Lardner, Mechanics, by Captain Kater and Dr. Lardner, Arithmetic, by Dr» Lardner, Natural Philosophy, by Herschel, History of Natural Philosophy, by Powell, Treatise on Heat, by Lardner, Astronomy, by Herschel, Manual of Electricity, Magnetism, and Meteorology, by Lardner and Walker, 2 vols., Treatise on Hydrostatics and Pneumatics, by Lardner, Optics, by Brewster, Chemistry, by lionovan, Essay on Probabilities, and their Application to Life Contip"" &c. by Morsan. T'

ingeucies,

list makes an addition of 165 'tolumes to the Library, and by the next ship the remaining portion of the books ordered will no doubt be received.

Nelson Constitutional Association. ' — A numerous meeting of the members of. the Constitutional Association took place on Wednesday evening last. The subcommittee appointed to frame a basis for a Constitution for the colony, to be submitted to the public meeting, advertised to take place on the 27th instant, made their Report, which contained the thirteen propositions printed in the Examiner last week. After some general discussion, a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Saxton, Stafford,

Isiliott, Travers, and Robinson, were appointed to visit Waimea and Motueka, to learn whether tbe inhabitants of those dis- . tricts concur in the principles agreed upon by tbe sub-committee. The Association \ which now numbers a large body of respectable names, and bids fair to embrace nearly tbe whole settlement) will hold its next general meeting on Monday, the 23d instant.