SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16203, 13 April 1916, Page 7

SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

Sir,A. year ago tho Herald allowed mo to draw the attention of .voters to their one annual opportunity of inquiring from candidates if they would facilitate the giving of voluntary religious instruction outside school hours. This unique chance will again be afforded on the 17tli inst., and I appeal to parents, for their children's Bake, to show their interest. Parliament received tha reports of its Select Committee— Allen, ;Hanan, and eight others— the Education Bill, 1914. The committee stated that it was "iully alive to the value of Biblical and religious instruction, and was of opinion that full opportunity should be givon for the adoption of any, voluntary system— suqJi as the Nelson system—in which tha teaching was imparted outside the statutory hours, under which the State exercised no authority in religious matters, under which there 'was no compulsion, and no violation of rights of conscience." The House passed tlii i by 47 v.v- ;s to 19. Parliament, averse to the BibV: • n-Schools and the Referendum Bills, envied the clause favouring voluntary religious instruction outsido hours by an overwhelming majority.. , v . r »j k ••» * •: 1 ■ J (Rev.) Henry Braddocx.