THE PROPOSED EDUCATION ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1305, 21 January 1868, Page 4

THE PROPOSED EDUCATION ACT.

To the Editor of the Heuaiod. Fib,—Whatever the future may have in store for us we stiil, in common with oth< r eirilized communities, impose, by law certain rules and restrictions, 'although tho doing so imp!it!3 a certain loaa of liberty to the individual, and a certain burden of expense on the community. For instance, a man ■who might desire to innim hie child by brutal violence would be interfered with to prevent or to punish. One, who, being able, neglected to provide bread for hi j family, would bo coeri.'ee' and eo would one who notoriously trained others |o ractice vile arta to the public injury. That these restrictions are costly has not yet induced our Provincial Legislature to repudiate their necessity, but a step of kindred character does seem imntitent, for it is now publicly stated by some in high places that if districts itnd individuals desire to rear their children in gross and brutish ignoranca and stupidity, the duty of the legislature ie to provide every facility for niich renult to he attained, nay more,'that ii the outlying districts, recognising and desiring to avert this 6til, cannot by means of a strictly local rate provide tho necessary expense, yet even in auch case the Province fu a whole must not undertake the task. The/oniy alternative which our legislature seems to contemplate is that, whereas it might be unjust to pass an Act obliging a district to levy ah education rate which it could not pay, therefore the Act may he permissive ollv. Gaols and police will be'continued, to serve among other purposes aa a check upon the destruction of the iodids of the children in this community by means of : violencoor starvation But an for atnrvßtion of the minds of poor children, ah, well,' it t> objectionable, tut then the effects will take longer to develops— the evil is not so immediate as the cost of a'prerentative. In soiae such spirit does the Provincial Oouucil 'seem to drift into the discussion prepared for tomorrow, comparing the work- of education with that of rbad-makirg. Forgetting that wliile a district may neglect its roads' without grently affec'-ing the rsst of the Province, it can scarcely r.iise grossly .ignorant inen ar.d women without d> grading the ; whole, community. Great stress EeemH to be laid upon ita being unfair :: t6'require the thickly peopled dishicte to raise a part of the money required to provide education in the thinly peopled parts; but the fuel seems to be forgotten that the man residing in a thinly peopled district, who, hayiug no children to benefit by the achool, is yet called upon 'to "pay the rate for its support, is just as unfairly dealt with: unfairly, that is—in both case3 —if the duty is not one of ihe whole •commonwealth. —Yours, &c, Auckland, January 20; IS6B, I^,

, (To the Editor of the Bee at,d) ..Sib,—Allow me,to, make a few remarks on the letter. eigaed '| Paddy," .which appealed in the PERAIDof thia ( . morning. ' I doubt not but a good mpny people as wjell'as 'J Paddy" were'disappointed at , . finding the prizes, offered, for 'competitors' at the Caledonian .Games were en very email, but as times t?, w p can' l expect great things, and we iiro , bound to suppose, that the conimitteo went W'far : es their ' ineana wpnli allow them. a promise iaheld ojitthafctheeuma now offered will he iricr : eii=ed, proTided the qeceEflary pimou'nt can be coiUcted With regard : to the .'< TL'ree-legged : rape," the thing is very.simple. 'Two men or bojg up :fceiiae one another, the lefi ( lpg of the oneie'etrapped .'tp.the right leg of the other, leaving the'ni' otily one ' leg to stand upon,;the other two, ijeirig lasted <b'gether, ■can only be ueedas' one, thus forming' the ttree-legge'd-race. ,Thie race has often been the source of :great merriment in the Old Country.—l huve/&c. January 20,1868. Avjm Sandt.