MONGONUI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 903, 5 October 1866, Page 4

MONGONUI.

Tk* following correspondence has been banded to us for publication by Mr. Duffus, of Mongnnui:— "Sept 0,1866. "Sir, —At a meeting of the inhabitants of \tongonui, lately held for the purpose of taking into consideration the intended reduction in the sa'arieallowed to s-hoolmasters, the foll-iwing resolutions ware passed, as the groundwork of a memorial to the Provincial Council conce-ning the matter, and I w is requested to transra ta copy of them to your Honor, in the that, by y->ur personal influence und official authority, you may he Rbl* to put off for the present, and perhaps altogether prevent the evils which are to be apprehended from the proposed redaction. " I havs the honor to be, sir, " Your Honor's very obedient servant, "John Duffus, "Chairman. " BE80LUTION" OS MOTION. "1. That it ii with the utmost concern w» have learned that the Government has determined to reduce the allowance hitherto granted to our schoolmasters. "2. That they who constitute th.s population of our' rural districts are, for the m >st part, from the necessity of their position, compelled to let their children crow up without proper instruction. "3. I hat it appears to us requisite, in order to counterbalance the increasing amount of ignorance to be thence apprehended th«' each township should haTe the full aid hitherto given for the maintenance of a schoolmaster within it, gontinued by the Government. "4. That to withdraw any considerable portion of that aid would be, in most instances, to withdraw altogether from the inhabitants the means of educating their children. "5/ T; at the reduction resolved on by the Government, if carried into effect, wi;l countenance and extend the opinion, already too prevalent, that •ducation is a matter of secondary importance, ■whereas it is, in reality, one of paramount importance. "6. That to education alone can we look for the development of those moral and intellectual capacities upon which most chiefl.}, if not altogether, depend, not only the welfare of the individual, but the character, prosperity, and eventual greatness of the nation of which we are now laying the foundations. " 7. That we beg to be permitted respectfully to express our opinion that the amount heretofore allowed to the schoolmaster should ii\ no instance be reduced, how urgent soever the need of retrenchment, believing that to be a very injudicious mpans of relief from a financial emergency which would leave the children of the people to grow up in ignorance, the common and too fruitful source of immorality."