CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9111, 20 July 1888, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

LIFE AT HEREKINO. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,l notice in your report of " A Chat with a Village Settler," the latter, when speaking of the high price of provisions at the settlement, says :—" But, wc can do without sugar.'' I presume, therefore, the settlers as a matter of economy, do not use it. IS' ow, as saccharine matter in some form or other, as an article of human food, is absolutely necessary to the proper maintenance of health, they might easily raise one of the best forms of it themselves, at a very trifling cost, and so avoid the evil of going without entirely — I allude to honey. I am sure our village settlers would find a few hives of bees for raising honey for home use most profitable. Honey is useful for so many purposes in the household, and withal so healthful, that few things would be more appreciated at a settler's homestead. With a modern hive for a pattern, a settler could make all his own, and there are plenty of swarms about the bush which could be had for the taking, so that the expense of setting up a small apiary is hardly worth taking into consideration.—l am, &c., I. Hopkins.

RAILROAD MANAGEMENT. TO TfTK EDITOR. _ Sir, —I see in Saturday's issue your Wellington correspondent telegraphs that Mr. Hudson, having completed his official

business, has left for Auckland—also, that^a. new system of signalling is being brought m" ' force on this section. Now, sir, do you think it' was necessary that the traffic manager should go to Wellington to fix up a timetable? This must have cost in travelling expenses and fares quite a respectable little sum, aud the time-table would ; have been ; done by letter quite as well. This new system of signalling is one of the experiments which I mentioned in my last letter. lam informed on good authority it will cost upwards of £2000, which, from what I can see in the expensive buildings erected, I should say is quite within the mark. Further, 1 have it from a reliable source, that this system is not any better than what has been in use for a number of years (which has proved itself), and may not be as safe. This, as I have before remarked, is the way the money goes. It is not screwing down the wages of the unfortunate employees that will j save money, but stopping this useless expenditure.— am, &c., James SlaTOß.t July 16,1888. .

THE MODERN POACHER. . _ TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — is well-known throughout this country that bare-faced poaching is carried onto a disastrous extent. The result is that when the honest sportsman, who pays his game fee into the revenue of the country, goes into the field, he finds that he is apparently rather a fool, as the field abounds with those who laugh at the idea of keeping the laws of his country in this respect, and totally disregard them, the authorities or rangers evidently agreeing with them, from the amount of notice they take of it. * I suppose there is not I a single individual who takes any interest in I shooting here, who could not name at least half-a-dozen who shoot or have shot imported game without a licence in the season. Yet I should _ not come forward in this manner if the grievance ended here. Unfortunately, the said poaching is not confined to the season provided by law for killing such game, but is carried on all the year round, so that the birds are being literally exterminated. There is hardly a sportsman who has obtained a decent reward this season for his expense of money, time, and energy, and this delightful country, so boasted of in handbooks circulated in England and other places for , its abundance of game, is by degrees becoming a howling wilderness to the sportsman. There is little enough attraction in the place in these depressed times, and what little there is of this kind is being exterminated, through ruthless law-breakers being allowed to go abroad unchecked. I should not. mind so much if they only destroyed game in season, or even out of season, unlawfully, under some circumstances: as, for instance, by confining' their depredations to cock pheasants; but this morning I was told, by a young gentleman of Te Aroha that last y»-ar b>. shot down a hen pheasant as she rose frw.v nest of 14 eggs, excusing himself by sayiiithat he did not know she was sitting, as ii. only hens of a certain disposition were in the habit of laying eggs, and a still more select variety in the habit of sitting on such things when they were laid. 1. Before my burst of indignation had subsided another young gentleman, thinking that there was not much harm in it, supported the former, by saying how he had himself robbed a nest of pheasants' eggs at Orakei for the purpose of blowing the pheasants out and keeping the shells. lam also informed that a noted dogbreaker in the province has a like disregard for confining the slaughter to the season, and therefore entertains his dog friends—namely, those who are sufficiently unprincipled— the year round accordingly. I believe it is a. common occurrence for two or more to shoot with one license, the man with the license carrying the game. I would ask is this sort of .thing to go on till no pheasants are left in the country to attract the sportsman to this sinking ship, or are the police and rangers going to do their duty, and enforce the law or the land in this respect ? If they chose could not one of the marauders easily be taken red-handed, and be made an example " that others may fear to do the like?' if the laws are not to be enforced had they not better be repealed, as all politicians know that a law not enforced is an evil instead of a blessing. Let all share alike; either have no game laws or have them kept. Don't favour the thief and the robber at the expense of the honest sportsman. But surely game might receive a like share of the great care spent on preserving oysters. Hoping that this grievance may be remedied,—l am, &c., Sportsman. Auckland, July 17, 1888.

EDUCATION. TO THE EDITOR.

! Sib,— Cooper's letter on State Education is, in most respects, ably written, and is one for which the public should be thankful, yet there are one or two points in it to which teachers cannot but take exception. . I refer to his statement that a school with an average of 50 on the roll can be properly managed by one teacher. As an old teacher I venture to assert that while one man can manage well 100 children who are all doing the same work and preparing for the same standard, it is an imbossibility for one teacher to properly instruct 50 children who are divided into some seven or eight classes. It - is not fair to refer to the Glasgow average of 61 to a .teacher, for; as in all large schools these 61 are all doing the same work, and it would be quite as easy to teach them if their number were 161. I myself have taught 100 unassisted, who were all doing the same work, with far greater ease to myself and greater profit to the children, than I at another time taught 20 who were in seven different classes. The poor teacher to whom Mr. Cooper would give a school of 50 children to teach without assistance, would have six standards to instruct in, besides a class of those between five and seven to amuse. I say " amuse" for as a rule children of that age learn nothing, and are only a trouble to the teacher and an expense to the country. Perhaps school teachers won't agree with me in this, for of course their numbers swell the roll and the teacher's income. I never went to school until I was | just seven, and at thirteen was able to qualify for the naval entrance examination, which includes besides the wonderful sixth standard subjects, a fair knowledge of Latin and French, two books of Euclid, and Algebra up to and including simple equations, and I was by no means considered a smart boy. With regard to native schools, the Maoris pay as much to the revenue as the artisans do, whose champion Mr. Cooper is, and so are perfectly entitled to their share of the education vote. I don't _ think Mr. Cooper has visited many of the native schools, or he would never consider the sum voted for them as a " gross waste of money." I taught Maoris for some years, and found them as a rule far quicker than European children. In geography and arithmetic t they invariably took the lead by a lorig Way. However, in a colony where Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality are watchwords bu£ too often in name, one must not be surprised at such utterances re our coloured brethren. The native schools certainly cost more than the European ones, but we have taken the Maori's country, and are under deep moral obligations to civilise and educate him. But perhaps democracy does not recognise moral j obligations. With regard to " the- proposal i to place the native schools under the Education Boards, this, I believe, would be to sound their death-knell. _ Maori schools are in every respect a specialty, and must be treated as such or the result will be collapse. Before leaving this subject, I would _ like to refer to some remarks of Mr. Goldie as reported by your Wellington correspondent. He writes : " Mr. Goldie is of opinion that the Education Board could employ a superior class of teachers to those now to be found in the native schools." This is a very undeserved reflection on native school teachers. A few of them may not be quite as well up as they might be, but such are the exception. Many of them are men of good birth and education— a lew -officers of the army, who have through misfortune come down in the world. By all means let us retrench our present expensive system; let the age be raised to seven, and let none after fifteen remain at school at the expense of the State. I know of young people of eighteen attending school at the present time. Finally, let the members of the Education Boards take charge of a school for a few weeks themselves. Let Mr. Cooper, for instance, be given a country school of fifty to manage unassisted, and I feel sure that the result will be not without benefit to the Wellesley-street legislators.— I am, &c., ( .Na Te Taou. Paparoa, July 14, 1888.