ON THINGS I GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11552, 16 January 1901, Page 3

ON THINGS I GENERAL.

LAGGING3EHIND. Some years ago our jtional education system was our pride ai our glory. No one could speak well en<?h of it; but now no one seems to have' a md word to say about it. Its latest critics Mr. Muir, who has just returned from ivisit to England and the Continent. Heells us that " the large schools in the Audand district are deficient in every resect, in construction, ventilation, sar.itatic, and tuition." They • do not seem to have; single redeeming feature, and our poor ttchers fare even worse titan the schools, I*. Muir says it is absurd even to " attept a comparison between the teaching i the large schools of Great Britain and tose under the Auckland Board. In t> Old Country the teachers of large schoo are highly educated and thoroughly traiid." Later on lie patronisingly tells ox teachers that it is not their fault that tly are not an capable as those in the paren country; .it is their misfortune. One caiot help feeling that Mr. Muir,has painted jo glowing a picture of the perfections of lie English schools, and has made a little to much of the shortcomings of our Auck'nd schools, which, it is to be hoped, are ]>t quite so black as lie has painted them, hough there is certainly plenty of roon for improvement. There is no doubt thai as Mr. Muir says, properly equipped trining colleges "for teachers are an urgen necessity. Some months ago the haphaznd method, or rather the utter want of metid, of teaching our teachers how to teach was referred to in this column. ' ANOTHER IGTURE. I have stated above hat Mr. Muir has painted too bright a pkure of the English schools. This is impv borne out by a recent address by Lordßeay, chairman of the London. School;Botd, who is just as severe on English s&rtcmings as Mr. Munis on the defects if tie Auckland school system. . Lord Re|f teclares that in matters educational En [laid is . the least favoured of the nation, i She is lacking in grip of the problere—that is, in the conception of preparingfor the life to be lived. She does not attemjfc, Lord Rcay goes on to say, to forecast tie economic difficulties of the future, still fes to make intelligent preparation for overbming them. In consequence, with regatl to educational facilities generally, En/and lags behind the other nations. If tjen (as Lord Reay says), England is so far baind other nations, and we (as Mr. Muir lays) are so much behind England, how jwful must be our case. The wonder is that [here are any among us who can write thef own names, or count up to ten. But Lord Reay also says that England is behind ler own colonies as regards education, presumably including NewZealand, as we are' rot excluded. Here we have Mr. Muir Aid Lord Reay in conflict, each engaged in a not very pleasant effort to prove that hs own country is the most backward from m educational standpoint. Unfortunate!' for us, it is to be feared that Mr. Muii has the best of the argument, for he can s>eak of both the English and New Zealaril methods from personal experience. Aid yet Mr. Seddon tells us that we are ii the van of civilisation ! DISUNION AMONjr CHRISTIANS. The different religiois bodies have over and over again complahed of the scant re- . cognition of the religiois sentiments of the people in the affairs of State, and in British communities the vist majority expect that there shall be somt invocation of the 'Divine blessing at the great turning points of our national life, sudi, for instance, as the inauguration of tin Australian Commonwealth. The great ibstacle in the way of _ such ceremonies is, however, the disunion and jealousy anion; the churches, and the consequent unedifyhg clamour for precedence, such as has just occurred in Australia. Politicians are frightened to introduce any religious dement into State functions, and only too often the churches have only themselves to blame. In these colonies, where there is no State Church, the only safe rule as tcrprecedence is numbers. The lead in tie religious part of these great national ceremonies must be entrusted to the head of the most numerous religious body in the State concerned. It is the disunion of the churches which makes the education question so difficult to deal with, and which brings so much discredit on missions and hampers the spread of the Gospel among the heathen. When he considers these things, the most ardent Protestant must at times at least ask himself the question whether too high a price was not paid for the Reformation, or, if that is too much to expect, he will, at any rate, regret that reformation was not possible without separation and the envy and uncharitableness that has flowed from it. '

THE LIMIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE. The first month of the new year seems to be the accepted time for Sunday-school picnics and other outings for the little ones. When we see the happy children marching down the streets we are' inclined to say how beautiful it is to see the little darlings enjoying themselves, and we quite overlook the poor teachers. The chances are that each picnic means a year's march nearer home to every conscientious teacher. To put up cheerfully with all the worry, anxiety, and hard work, which these outings entail, marks the high-water mark of unselfishness. That many men and women■ especially women through these experiences year after year, is ample proof that the spirit of Christianity is still very much alive in the world. Sunday-school picnics are the same all the world over, and the following little extract from an article in ail English paper, by one who has tried them, ■will find an echo in the heart of every Auckland Sunday-school teacher : — * First Careworn Mother : "I don't know however you'll get 'em to the station, miss. My Tommy's that excited, I can't do nothink with 'im.. The child's fairly mad with delight at the thoughts of going to the country." Second Ditto (impressively) "You mayn't believe me, Mrs. Roberts, but my young Grace ain't touched a morsel of food these three days." ■■'■,'. Third Ditto (in a shrill key) : "Lizzie, where's Albert got to '! He'll get left behind, as sure as I stand here. . . . Well ! I'm blessed if he ain't half way up the lamp-post— him in his new suit, too. Git down, you young limb ! You'll burst every button off afore you so much as start." A Small Child : "Please, teacher, mother says, can me and Jim take one brush and comb between us ?"

A Warm-hearted Bystander (to Miss F.): " I do like to see the little dears going out to enjoy theirselves !" AN EXCITING MOMENT. The writer, proceeds to narrate how they packed them into the train, and then goes" on to say : —Then we began to count them ; 10 in this compartment, and 10 in the next 20, 30, 35, 36. 37, —there were two missing ! Miss F. stared blankly at me, . and I stared blankly at Miss F. She consulted a list; the two deaf and dumb children from Clan don-street were they? Just then a guard came up and said the train would start in. three minutes. With one accord we began running, she to the right, I to the leftup and down one long platform after another, searching every nook and corner, tripping over piles of luggage, and colliding with indignant pas/engers, who hurled remonstrances after my flying figure. A bell rang, and I thought all was lost. At this moment I saw advancing towards me a curate, small and benevolentlooking, with a missing child in each hand. He had spied them out sitting in an empty carriage of a train that had no engine, and getting nothing from them but unintelligible sounds, had consulted their labels, which bore the words, " Jane and Eliza Bewsey, passengers to Little Bowney by the 1.45." I could stay to hear no more, but seizing the children, ran once again through the barrier and flung them into the departing train. " This is what makes old women of us before our time," said Miss F.'s voice at my elbow. " Behold in me the latest victim to the C.C.H.F. (Children's country holiday fund) ! I have grown 10 years older within the last hour." "At all wents we can console ourselves by thinking that we manage these things better than the French," I rejoined, as I took her arm, and we turned homewards. "Remember the story of the French philanthropists who took 50 children down to bathe at Dieppe; they counted them . when they went into the water, and counted them again afterwards, and there Were five missing !"

THE GAOL OB THE HOSPITAL ? I see that the jury at the coroner's inquest on George Boutwell, a prisoner, who died in the Mount Eden gaol, want to know whether in view of the state of his health at the time of his commitment, he should hot have been sent to the hospital instead of to the gaoil. Probably, had magistrates the power feo commit offenders to the hospital for medical treatment, Boutwell would have been sent there. But in the . circumstances the best and most humane thing was done. He wis charged with a serious offence, and as he" was in a very bad state of health, and without friends, the magistrate, himself a medical man, considered the kindest thing to do in the interests of the unfortunate man himself, was to commit him to prison, where he would be medically treated and looked after. The warrant was accordingly endorsed, •'medical treatment," and the evidence at the inquest showed that he was treated as a patient, and not as a prisoner, every attention being paid him by the gaol doctor and officials. To anyone unacquainted with the facts of the case, the jury's rider would suggest that the committing magistrate erred in sending the man to gaol, whereas the truth is, he acted with the greatest humanity. The General.