THE The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAT 15, 1896.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10133, 16 May 1896, Page 4

THE The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAT 15, 1896.

» —— Wjb were informed by cable yesterday that the Voluntary Schools Bill of the Salisbury Government had passed its second reading by a large majority. At the present time considerable changes are being proposed in the education system in force in England, and the consideration of these might be of great benefit to us here, if we were reasonable on this subject, and if the democracy had not determined that they would not look at any proposal for amendment even in the mere ad« ministration of the Act,

The principal measures regarding education was introduced in the House of Commons by Sir John Gorst, VicePresident of the Council, and was described by Mr. Acland, his predecessor in office, as "the roost; enormous change in the educational system which this country had ever seen." This is considered a somewhat exaggerated statement; bat it is certainly the case that the changes proposed are great and significant. In the first place, the Bill is admitted on all hands to be a measure of decentralisation. We here in New Zealand have been going on the other line; our education system has been becoming every year more and more centralised. At the present time considerable dissatisfaction is being expressed towards our Education Boards, especially towards the Auckland Board, and the only plan of amendment that seems to suggest itself is to abolish the boards, and to work the whole system from the Education Department at Wellington. In England the amendment proceeds in a different direction. The administration of the Education Department is held to be rigid and inelastic, and in that way to be imperfect and injurious in many respects. A new education authority is to be set up in every county and borough possessing a council under the Looal Government Act. The county or borough council is to act for this purpose through a speoial committee, which will have the entire control of the administration of the Parliamentary grant, which will have charge of the inspection of elementary Softools, subject to the general supervision of the department, which will assist in the development of secondary schools, and take over the. duties imposed by the Technical Instruction Act. Here is an idea for us. The present system of eleotion to our Education Board is a radically bad one. The Auckland Board, for instance, has too large a district to administer, and can only deal with the out-districts through a corps of inspectors. We believe that it would be advantageous to divide the Auckland district into two or three districts. This would get rid of the cry which is made so much of at all the Board of Education elections, that the town schools are favoured, and that the country schools are plundered for the Auckland schools. The cry is absurd and

[ false* but it sttfyea ihs frlffaee of those who use it. If, for instance, the North 'iters ciit off/ itid raited «h# share of the capitation l through ■. a . board of their own, thefl the ory that Auckland is favoured r could no longer be used. 1$ Wbdld te found then whether 6r hdfr tfifef'Md km injured by, being conriebte'd with Auofe land, But, indeedj we believe that it 'would be adVant4gd.Dii| if M went the whole length of the .English Act-, and listed the administration of education to" coramitlees of the County Coudoils and in boroughs' U committees of the Borough Councils. Sir John Gorst, id rearing to this point, said:--'lt is hoped that this arrangement will lead to a decentralisation of the* code* arid that instead of our attempting to impose one rigid system of education from the land's End to Berwiok<upM-fweed, each county &nd county borough shall be able to make such modifications in the code as may be suitable to its' particular local dircumstanoeß." A similar decentralisation would be beneficial for us. It would Create a Whole'some rivalry between different districts in regard to methods of education* It would stimulate voluntary effort on behalf of education. It Would encourage the leaving of donations and endowments to different classes of schools. But with us the constant cry is "Govern us from Wellington."

In regard to the religious difficulty, means are being taken to deal fairly with all parties. This difficulty presses upon the children of Nonconformists in districts where only voluntary schools exist, and on the children of Churchmen and of Roman Catholics where the whole of the elementary instruction of a large district is in the hands of school boards. One of the new conditions for the receipt of the Government grant is to be that if a "reasonable number" of the parents of children in attendance apply to have separate religious instruction provided for those requiring it in any elementary school, the managers must allow effect to be given to this desire. In dealing with the religious part of his subject, Sir John Gorst said:—"The Roman Catholics and a very large part of the members oil the Church of England make it a point of conscience that their children should be educated by teachers of their own denomination ; and it would be impossible to force those children out of their own schools into the Board schools without being guilty of a piece of religious intolerance which the people of England in these enlightened days would never consent to." Wo iu New Zealand, so far as our national system goes, say that if any persons make it a point of conscience that their children should be educated by teachers of their own denomination, they must educate them entirely at their own expense. Sir John Gorst has something to learn from New Zealand in regard to what is religious intolerance and enlightenment. What are called the voluntary schools do a large .part of the work of education in England. Of every seven children educated by the State, three were educated in Board schools and four in the Voluntary schools. Sir John Gorst is strongly of opinion that the existence of the Voluntary schools is of advantage, " beoause they tend to infuse independence, originality, and variety inb our national education, and, to some extent, counteract that tendency to uniformity and rigidness which is the usual characteristic of a State system of education." We here are anxious to discourage or crush any appearance of competition with the national system. In 1870 the Church of England had 844,334 children in its schools 5 in 1895 it had 1,850,545, The subscriptions, which were in 1870 £329,848, were in 1895 £640,408. Between 1870 and 1895 the Churcli of England has spent in school buildings a sum of £7,37Ji,402,

It is evident that in England, in matters educational, they are not travelling in our direction. We are always pleased to think that we are leading the folks at Home, whom we are inclined to consider old-fashioned and deficient in the spirit to make bold political and social experiments. But we are not leading them in this department. Religious teaching is given in schools aided by the State, and these schools are increasing education rates are levied locally while the entire administration of the Act is being decentralised. There seems a firm determination abroad here not to consider any'proposal even for improvement in the working of the system, and this determination will survive even a continuance of the scenes we have lately had on our Board. The Government of New Zealand will never promote a Bill to decentralise the work • ing of the system, which would be an immense improvement, except such a measure were forced upon them by public opinion, and the fashion in New Zealand now is to consider a Ministry in Wellington infallible and endowed with a Divine right to guide and con-. trol us in every step.