THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1876.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4487, 31 March 1876, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1876.

Our correspondent, Mr. Houston, returns to the charge as briskly as ever respecting the Grammar School, and is undismayed by the fact that he is quite alone in his complaints, and thatthe people of the province having no personal interest in the matter, and no spleen to vent, have come to an opposite conclusion from himself. What we may style the foundation of his complaint is, that too much is spent upon our Grammar School in comparison with the amount devoted to common school., education throughout the province. That is a very good argument, we should think, not for depriving the Grammar School of any of its present funds, but for making every endeavour to improve the resources at the command of our Education Board for the common school system. They are certainly scanty enough. We do not see why, in this matter of education, Auckland should be content to be one whit behind any other province in New Zealand, either in respect to the higher or lower education, and we think it is wrong of a writer of ability like Mr. Houston to devote himself, not to raising up the most poverty-stricken part of our educational system, but to endeavouring to pull everything down to its level.

From the report of the Auckland Education Board lately issued, we find that the rental of Grammar School endowments on the 31st March was £1,067 ; school fees and subsidy from University, £1,500 ; interest on investments, £527 ; making a total of £3,087 10s. The curi rent expenditure of the school, including scholarships and rents, is estimated at £3,200. There are seven regular masters, with two visiting masters for drawing and music, and the attendance in the last quarter |o£ 1874 was 164 boys. "We find that in Dunedin High School the number of pupils enrolled during the first half of 1874 wa3 102; during the second half it was 103. It will be seen, therefore, that the Grammar School of Auckland teaches more pupils than that of Dunedin. The cost of the Dunedin school was £3, US 17s, and the head-master has, we believe, a house allowed him, so that the expenditure on the Auckland school, with a greater number of pupils, is actually less. This does not look like wasteful managemen. At Dunedin there is a good building, while here a place has to be rented, and in the higher education they are immeasurably before us, having a University wliich is well endowed, and a girls' High School. "We may remark that we find from this report that the sum of £21,000 was voted bythe Provincial Government to be expended for school buildings during 1874, and that it was all expended. Our Education Board scarcely dare to open their mouths to ask for any such sum to erect all the school-buildings required for the province. The total expenditure in Otago for 1874 was—contributed by the Government, £19,293 6s 2d ; from school fees and voluntary subscriptions, £14,421 17s 9d ; for school buildings, £21,000 : making a total of £54,715 3s lid ; while here the expenditure was £20,530 13s lid. "While we are on this point, we may state that in the province of Canterbury the total amount paid out of the treasury on account of education during the twelvemonths ending September, 1874, wa3 £75,198 Is 9d, as against Auckland's]! £20,000. In Christchurch thsre is a Grammar School and also a High School, but we have not at hand the means of comparing, or rather contrasting the expenditure on them with the expenditure on our own Grammar School.

Mr. Houston rails at our Grammar School, as giving education only to

the ._ bohst-oE the wealthy, and denies onr. statement; that it.-'-is witllin reach of any of the working-class. The fees* are £2 per ...wethink that' a respectable ; working man) 'desirous of giving a son; a good education for the last two years he attended school could, without injustice to himself pay that fee. But that the attendance is not confined to the sons of the wealthy is shewn by the fact that while the junior division is well filled, the upper division is not, and thus some teaching power is wasted. The boys are removed to be sent to work at so early an age that fewer than we should desire to see remain to go through the curriculum of the school. If it were the case M Mr. Houston says, that ninetenths of the boys attending the Grammar School were the sons of the wealthy, this would not occur. He holds it up as a fault that there are so few pupils to the number of masters in the upper division of the school, but this would not be so if his other argument were true—that the attendance at the school consists only of the sons of the wealthy. Mr. Houston does not agree with us in the statement we made, that the school is giving satisfaction, not only to. the parents of the pupils attending it, but to the public. Alluding to our remark on this subject he says: "You will find their confidence is confined to those who are connected in one way or other with it, and that outside the town of Auckland, the general public, or rather those who take an interest in the cause of education, have very little respect for it." Our correspondent's use of the phrase, " outside the town of Auckland," would seem to imply that he is conscious that inside the town of Auckland there is satisfaction felt with the work, done in the school. What we have said as to the school, in defence of its management against his attacks, is not the expression of opinion of those in any way connected with the institution, but of those who are competent to judge of its teaching and discipline, and entire management.

We think that every citizen of Auckland should feel proud that while in this province we are deficient in so many respects, and have not the wealthy endowments for our schools which other provinces can boast, our Grammar School at least we need not be ashamed of. It must be remembered that the Grammar School endowments are its own, and could not possibly be devoted to the support of the Common School system of the province.

The remarks made by Captain Fraser at the dinner given to him by the residents of Tauranga are of great importance, and will surely attract some attention from the Government and the public. It is not this time a red-hot partisan who is making the accusation; the blow is not struck by an "Opposition newspaper," which might be anxious for an opportunity to hit the Government on any pretext. Captain Fraser is a Government officer, but, being a man of a frank and fearless disposition, he speaks boldly of what he knows. The land of Tauranga was ceded to us by the natives some ten or eleven years ago, and all of the progress that has been achieved since then might have been accomplished in as many weeks. For beauty and convenience of situation, for extent of fertile land, Tauranga cannot be surpassed, and those who know it most intimately are the most firmly convinced of its resources. But year after year everything has been mismanaged and humbugged. Itisdifficult to say which district has been the most utterly mismanaged by the Government, the Thames or Tauranga ; but we are inclined to think that the worstused place has been Tauranga. Captain Fraser, indeed, doe 3 not hesitate to declare that the Government have put every obstacle in the way of settlers. It must be so, or greater progress would have been made. Let any man make a journey through the districts of the Thames and Tauranga, and look at the convenient harbours, the wide expanses of fertile land, watered by navigable rivers, and he will be overcome with wonder that long ere this, these districts have not been peopled. And when he learns that the country has borrowed to the extent of twenty millions sterling, chiefly for the purpose of opening up and settling its waste lands, he will be lost in wonder. Any stranger would naturally ask, how it was that these districts had not been dealt with ? and when he hears the history, truthfully told, he will say that the sooner we have a change of Government, and of the entire system of Government management, the better. Had the Thames and Tauranga been properly dealt with, we feel assured the out-settlers of this province might have been doubled in number, and we need not say how much that would have added to the prosperity of the city. Captain Fraser is intimately acquainted with the circumstances both of Tauranga and the Thames, and is not disposed to underrate the difficulties in the way. Yet he speaks of the Native Department as the "bugbear" of Tauranga, and of its "misrule" there. "We do not know whether Captain Fraser's mention of " political honours" indicates that there is a possibility of his seeking admittance to the House of Representatives, but i£ he were to seek for and attain such a position he would cause a fluttering in the Native Office dovecot, and would be of great service to the province. We feel as if Captaiu Fraser had come to our assistance at a critical moment. Hitherto in charging the Government with grievous neglect in their dealings with Tauranga, we have felt like the children in the market-place, who piped, aud no one would dance. The Thames Advertiser has spiritedly taken up the ease of its own district. Let the Bay of Plenty Times devote itself to Tauranga. Our contemporary may depend upon it that it will find a better reward in the settlement of the fertile lands of Tauranga than in picking np the crumbs that fall from the table of the Native Office.

j There have been of late several cases, on the ! East Coast, of Maories being accused of practising witchcraft, and "who have subseI quently been murdered by other natives for that alleged offence. A native is now lying in the Mount Eden Stockade awaiting his i trial at the ensuing Sessions of the Supreme I Court, on a charge of assassinating an aged ; Maori, who was held by his fellows to be I guilty of makutuing or "bewitching" peo--1 pie, and thus compassing their death. From 1 the.English journals we notice that a belief in mcikutii, or witchcraft, is by no means , confined to the Maori race, but that a large portion of the English peasantry, notably in ; Warwickshire, are infected with the same 1 belief. A case, somewhat similar to that of i the Urewera murder, recently took place at Long Compton, Warwickshire, and in which a labourer named James Haywood killed Ann Tennanfe, an old woman verging on eighty years of age, with a pitchfork, on the ground that she was a witch. Haywood boasted of his deed, and justified his conduct by reference to Scriptural passages where the stoning of persons with familiar spirits is enjoined. His trial for the crime took place before Baron Bramwell, and, as usual, there was a large amount of medical evidence forthcoming, to prove prisoner's insanity. It was stated in evidence that " Haywood was a man who would drink any quantity of gin or liquor that could be put before him, and then go mad after"—an incident which goes far to show that there was at least "methodin his madness." It transpired also that he believed himself bewitched, and had consulted a "wise man" at Coughton;—his parents imbued his mind

with similar notions; and they would frequently say "They are at him againthey won't let him alone." One of the witnesses in the case stated that fully one-third of the * population .of Long Compton were\believera .in * ;iN otwithstanding ~ the 'very .'strong evidence adduced against Haywood, proVing his knowledge of the responsibility which he incurred, the jury returned a .verdict'of "not guilty on the ground of insanity." The startled and astonished judge was only able to add to the outrageous verdict, the following observation :—"Very well, gentlemen ; .1. believe I laid down the law properly to y<Ju; it is your doing, not mine." It would appear from the foregoing, | 'that all that is necessary in order to secure an acquittal at the hands of an English, jury is, that the accused should be under the " belief" that he is "bewitched," and be able to quote effectively Scriptural authority for slaying those whom he imagines may be playing such pranks upon him. When Himona te Hua comes before the Supreme Court we have no doubt that this case will be mentioned. It would appear that there are ignorant savages in England as well as in JN ew Zealand,