CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8886, 24 May 1892, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THIS CHARGES AGAINST MR. HARRISON. TO THK EDITOR.

Sir,—lt seems to me time that some teacher of experience should speak out about this affair between Mr. Harrison and the Board of Education. The delicate nature of the inquiry has prevented people from judging the case, and when the Board charge Mr. Harrison with being " guilty of indiscretion" the public will think it must have been very great to be followed by the consideration as to whether he should be retained in his position. The plain English is that, as every teacher knows, boys are often given to practices destructive to their health and morally degrading. Mr. Harrison is a man _to whom this would cause great anxiety if he suspected it in his elder boys, and the course he would pursue would not be adopted without much consideration. His method of dealing with it has given an opportunity to some parents to bring a foul charge of immorality against him. From this charge he is completely exonerated by the Board. No one else that knew Mr. Harrison entertained it for a moment. But what follows? He is charged with indiscretion " in adopting the method complained of without consulting the committee or the Board." Note that the indiscretion was not in the course he pursued, but in " not consulting the committee." He would have acted very foolishly had he done soonly a conference of experienced teachers could have advised him. There is only one teacher on the Board of Education, and he is the member whose opinion few teachers would regard. On every Board of Education tlieee should be one experienced teacher, sent there specially as the representative of teachers.

I have not said a word to Mr. Harrison about the matter, but it is probable that he chose the method he employed because it gave him an opportunity of talking seriously with the boys about their malpractices. But it has become evident that it gives a chance first to the boys, and then perhaps as a result of false representation to their parents, for vindictive action against the teaclier. Surely the indiscretion must be considered as excess of zeal or conscientiousness, the results of which fall upon himself alone. A letter to the Herald is not the place to discuss as to what is the right way to deal with the difficulty. It is included in the larger question of moral training in public schools. But Mr. Harrison's character is unsullied. Moreover, this affair has shown, not only as the Board of Education declare that he is exonerated from any immoral motives," but that lie is keenly sensitive upon the subject of the moral health of his scholars.—l am, &c., C. P. Newcosibe.

RODNEY COUNTY ROADS. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your issue of the 10th. ultimo appeared an article signed " Viator," which was so full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations that I was not. surprised the writer withheld his name. I called the chairman's attention to it at the time, but he thought that its falsity was sufficiently apparent to all, and therefore not worth replying to, but to those of your readers unacquainted with the district., who might be misled, common justice demands an emphatic contradiction. Will you therefore grant me the favour of inserting this reply in vindication of the gentlemen he has singled out, charging them with exceptional selfishness, himself being an eye witness. He says "I noticed in my travels through the county that every chairman managed during his term of office to get a good road and, in some cases, a metalled one to his own door." Since the constitution of the Council, in 1577, the office of County chairman has been filled successively by(1) Mr. Nathaniel Wilson, towards whose door the Council never made one yard of road ; (2) Mr. Henry Palmer; (3) Mr. Josiah Hudson—in both these cases the charge is equally without foundation ;—(4) Mr. Edward Browne, the present chairman. There is good evidence from gentlemen who have travelled through the county that the road within four or five miles of his "door" is the very worst portion of the road travelled in this and adjoining county. During his term of office no road towards or near his " own door " lias been either formed or metalled. "Viator" writes of bad district roads in Komokoriki. How can they be otherwise while the Board only levies a farthing rate, which about pays the cost of management, leaving nothing for expenditure on roads, and which wrongs the county fund out of two-thirds of its subsidy in that district? The newly-constituted Ahuroa Road Board promises to be run on more reasonable lin««. To " Viator's" last sentence may be added : —"And if Road Boards will not perform their legitimate functions, the same course should be adopted, and the encumbrance removed." —I am, &c., Thomas .Chaplin*, County Clerk. Warkworth, May 16, ISD'J.

LIBERALS AND LAND SETTLEMENT. TO Til EDITOR. Sir, —I notice every now and again in your paper that an Association calling itself the Auckland Liberal Association or the National Liberal Association, or whatever it calls itself, has been holding a meeting at some offices it has hired from the Charitable Aid Board, which apparently has a superabundance of room in its building. 1 congratulate the members cm their sagacity in the selection of their quarters. Oil two or three occasions I have glanced through a record of the proceedings of that distinguished body, composed as it is of numerous celebrated New Zealand Liberal statesmen and enterprising colonists, whose names are known and respected throughout the length and breadth of Mew Zealand as " developers of " the splendid resources of our magnificent colony "—to use a phrase which is so apt to spout out of the mouths of New Zealand Liberal politicians, who talk so much about it all as politicians, but do so little practically as settlers to develop them, preferring rather to live like parasites on the enterprise of those who are engaged in developing its resources. The great subject of discussion with members of the Auckland Liberal Association and kindred Associations in the four large towns of this colony appears to beland, settlement of the people on the land, taxing the land, nationalising the land, and the various modes and methods whereby the land of the colony is to be settled upon. Now, sir, the Auckland provincial district is one of the largest in the colony, and has in it a larger area of unoccupied unsettled land than any other in the colony. Then why the deuce don't members of the Auckland Liberal Association go forth as colonists and settle on it?—l am, &c., A New Zealand Freeholder.

Wellington, May 19, 1892. P.S. and N.B.— example members of the Auckland Liberal Association should follow is that of a young man of my acquaintance who came out from England in bad health. Instead of hanging about a large town like Auckland, and looking out _ for Government employment, he went out into the country and got employment on a farm. He has already saved a considerable sum of money, and is on the look-out for some laud, and has already spotted some first-class land, which he hopes to acquire on terms and live on it. He considers that it is better to do that than to join a Liberal Association in a largo town, attend meetings, and listen to political windbags spouting about land settlement.

THE SINGLE TAX. TO THE EDITOR. Sir-, —In your issue of Wednesday last appears the reply of Messrs. Kelly and Piatt to my letter of the *Jth instant. I regret that those gentlemen do not confine themselves in their replies to the main question. Is it honest for the people to resume possession of the land which they have sold, without compensating the owners? This, and not expediency, or the benefit which two-thirds of the colonists might derive from the robbery of the other third, is the point at issue, and must be first settled. If confiscation would not be honest, then we must have nothing to do with it. The law, both Divine and human, says, "Thou shalt not steal." Messrs. Kelly and Piatt, in reply to my assertion, that the single tax " would confiscate the selling unimproved value of the and," say, "exactly so." and then ask, " What does the unimproved selling value of the land represent I reply, that whatever else it may or may not represent, it is certainly that which was purchased from the people, and of which the siugle-taxers now seek to rob them (there is no other word for it). The subject drawn like a red herring across the scent, i.e., the fundamental right of each man to himself, from which follows the right to the exercise of his own powers, and to the fruits of such exercise, is fundamental nonsense, as Detective Crystal or some other intelligent officer would soon convince them, if they endeavoured to carry out in their individual capacity what they urge the colonists should do collectively, i.e., take without compensation the property of others.— am, etc., E.W.

THE PROPOSED FRUIT EXPERIMENTAL STATION. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Pressure of business has prevented me sending you the synopsis I promised of the rules and syllabus of the School of Horticulture, Melbourne. Regulations The gardens are open to the public on week days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Breach of the by-laws regulating the admission and conduct of visitors is punishable in accordance with the Land Act of the colony. Students :—The hours of attendance for students are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Attendance at the lectures, when delivered during working hours, is compulsory. Students are required to obey the orders of the curator and teaching staff, and punctuality, diligence, order, and quietness is enforced Smoking during working hours is prohibited, and any student guilty of profane, immoral, or insubordinate conduct, or wilfully breaking any of the rules of the school, or persistently neglecting his work is liable to dismissal. The maximum number of students is twenty. They are non-resident, and the instruction ia free. Each student on admission must be over the age of 14 years, and must produce a State school certificate or an equivalent thereto as to his education ; together with a certificate of moral character from some person of known good repute, or Justice of the Peace, or a clergyman. Applications for admission as students must be made to the secretary for the Department of Agriculture (who is chairman of the Board of Advice), and must be accompanied by a sum of £5, as a guarantee for good behaviour, and which mav be used for payment of fines. A moiety of the students may be adults, who may not be required to furnish a school certificate; and both sections are received for a term of not less than six months, and not more than three years. All must conform to the rules and regulations in force for the government and management of the gardens, undei penalty of expulsion, or of such lessei punishment, as the Board of Advice maj impose. At the end of the second or third year students who shall pass a satisfactory examination on the subjects taught may be granted certificates of proficiency. Practical horticulture is taught by the curator from nine a.m. to five p.m. (Saturdays nine a.m. to one p.m.) The course of instruction is thoroughly practical, and comprises such subjects as preparation of the soil, planting, manuring, pruning, and cultivation of fruit and fruit trees, gathering and storage of fruit, packing fruit for home and foreign markets, nomenclature of fruits, and a knowledge of horticulture generally. Two gentlemen from the college conduct classes, and deliver lectures weekly on botany as bearing on horticulture, and agricultural science aft applied to horticulture, but as the subjects dealt with at those meetings are numcrou and important, I will give the details in future communication.—l am, etc., Pomona-AHA R A X a.

SELLING OUR RAILWAYS. TO TIIU EDITOR. Sir, —Mr. Vaile is very persistent, but ho must allow others to air their opinion. I think there have been quite as many who have signed their names to the opinion that the railways in New Zealand should be sold. Many of the railways are premature, and are burying the colony beneath a load of debt. Some men like to express their ideas without having the worst of motives attributed to them, and are therefore, though anonymous, none the less entitled to express their views. It might equally be said of those who are so anxious to retain the railways that they have some personal objects to serve. Certain it is that the Government desire to retain them for the political influence they give. But we have other objects of more importance to the welfare of the colony than the mere retention of the men of the

day in their billets. Wo hear a good of deal about evil management of railways where privately owned, but little proof. Where are the railways better managed than in England and America? (where they are most owned by private companies). Where are they cheaper? Where is there better comfort ? or equal speed, and why? Because it pays these companies to provide all such necessaries, a matter of indifference to a Government. Of course there would be no free gold railway passes, and that might not tend to make the proposal of selling our railways to a company palatable to our Representatives, but it is as certain as the night follows the day that to make the railways pay a company must run them cheaply, and in studying the interests of the colonists thereby study their own; more particularly in a country like this colony, where they would have, so much to fear from steamer and indeed road competition, for even at the present time in Auckland we have omnibusses competing profitably with the railway to Onehunga. Fancy the burden of interest of 15 millions lifted off this young country, which is bleeding almost to death in the payment raised by taxation yearly being sent out of the colony. It is a question hardly admitting of any doubt as to the expediency, unless, as I said before, by those who have objects to serve, or political influence to coerce. It is rather a question of who would buy while we can only realise 2 to 2.J per cent, on money borrowed at from 4£ to s.|j per cent. The luxury is too great for this young country, and we are just in the same position as a man who cannot afford a horse and gig yet runs a twohorse carriage, and in the end we must reap the same results.—l am, etc., Common Sense

RECEPTION OF THE GOVERNOR. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, Apart from the expense the colony is unnecessarily put to in sending a steamer specially for the Governor, there is a great question as to their safety and comfort to be considered, which would have been better met bv the Governor coming down in one of the Union Company's large steamers. But it is stated that this is the objectionable part of such a suggestion, viz., that the Governor and family would have to come via Auckland, and this at all hazards must be prevented, for fear he, like his predecessor, should take a fancy to " beautiful Auckland" and its temperate climate. If such is the reason it accounts for our liberal Government, who are so ready to waste the revenues in the direction of making costly repairs to the Hiuemoa, finding new uniforms for its officers, and dispensing with the services of the Premier of the colony at a time when such services are most needed. And this is the Government our representatives are supporting.—l am, &c., Colonist.

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCH AND STAGE. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—As the local in to-day's edition of the Herald, in reference to the book sent by the Rev. G. C. Grubb to Miss Kemblo is somewhat misleading, I feel sure you will allow me to remind your readers of his remarks in his opening address on VVednesday evening, relative to Christians and their amusements. He deplored that they should go to our Lord for their salvation, and to the world for their recreations. lam sure your informant will understand that the book, " What God Hath Wrought," written by Mr. E. C. Millard, a co-worker of Mr. Grubb's (and not by himself), was sent with a far higher motive than as a proof of the so-called " cordial relations " which are said nowadays to exist between Church and stage. I would not trouble you with these remarks were I not fully cognisant of Mr. Grubb's views on this subject; but, being a personal friend of his, also of the author's, I felt such an erroneous statement should be corrected.l am, etc., G.N. Basque Road, May 23, 1892.