LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1717, 25 January 1905, Page 60

LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. (From Our Special Correspondent.) SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND. LONDON, November 29. New Zealand’s secular system of education finds an out-and-out opponent in the Rev. C. Coleridge Hurp.r, vicar of Palmerston North, who condemns it unsparingly in a letter to the “Church Times” this week. Mr Harper, who claims that his long experience of Sunday schools and day schools in the oolonv gives him grounds for b> Lieving that he knew his subject well, writes as tollows: —

“I say plainly and positively, that a purely secular system of education is nothing less than a national disaster Nearly all Christian workers, clerical and lay, Church and Nonconformist in New Zealand, are agreed on this. In support of this opinion I will refer to the effect of such a system in detail and generally. “My own experience is this: the children are, as a rule, deplorably ignorant of Biblical facts, whether of Old or New Testament. There is in most an absolute ignorance o f that on which we base our religious, moral, or docsrinal teaching. Did space allow, I could give you startling proof of this ignorance. “The general effort is, if anything, worse. There is no basis for moral training; there is no appeal; the school training has for its object (so far as the children can see) material advantage only; duty, moral principle, etc., depend for their enforcement on the per sonal power of the teadhox, and nothing else. But beyond all this is the influence on the character of the young of the belief that those who are respou-.ible for their training m all that is requisite to equip them for life see no need for religion, and in fact studiou ly and purposely keep it out of that training as a thing Positively harmful. You can imagine the effect, which we in N.Z. are only too certain of. Religion is looked tipon as quite an extra: a fad more or less of some, a mens by which the parson lives, and The Churches’ flourish ; an appendage to life of no vital importance. and depending for its claim on the personality of ; ndividual clergy. Of cour e there are many and notable exceptions. but this is, speaking generally, true of the young who have been train ed in our primary schools; and if it is so now. after one generation has been so trained (the system has been in for for twenty-seven years'), what -vill Le its effect on the children of this generation ?

’‘Theorists in FhagUnd deny that this will be the result. Ido not theorise but sta+e posit : vrty that where it bns been tried it is the result. It is merely a question of fact. It is said ■‘hat Sun-day-schools will do all that is necessary. Here, again, our experience »s .her the Sunday school is quite inadequate- In England you don’t realise what a help to the teaching of the Sunday s-Tuol the knowledge, small it may be but still something, of the leading facts of our Faith, really is. In our case, the timp we ought to give to doctrinal and mural teaching is mainly devoVd to laying the found ition which in England »s done in the day-school.”

THE COLONIES AND THE NAVY. Sir John Colt mb M.P., in a lengthy commun’caticn to the ‘‘Times’’ on the subject of the cost of the Navy, oom pores the support given <o llit fir<t line of Imperial defence by i lie United Kingdom .and the colonies. 11° eliuvs bow the United Kingdom provides £35,653,500 annually for the N ivy, while a trade approximately that of Jo pan, Canada and Australia pay only three farthings to the Navy, to the 20s of the Jaoanese, and he says:—“ln the furious controversy now raging over fiscal policy many on either seem to assume that the millennium has come, and that the whole problem our Em pire now presents is only a question of profit sharing between its several parts Nothin r is heard of sharing, responsibil ity and cost of preparation for war Hoes anyone really think that any syste mof tariffs within the Empire can abolish its external dangers? For my own part, I may be permitted to say that what I imagined when young is the conviction when old—that consolidation of our Empire demands mutual sacrifices and the key of the problem lies in their true adjustment for the common advantage of the colon es and Motuer Country alike. Tho primary question is not one of trade profits in peace, but of preservation in war. As I am really astonished to find that many of Mr Chamberlain's most pugnaciously ardent followerseem wholly ignorant of the real breadth and deoth of their chief’s grasp of the problem of Imperial Consolidation, I this letter by quoting from Mr Chamberlain’s address to the Colonial Premiers at the conference of 1902: ‘Gentlem n, we do w int your aid. We do require your assistance in the administration of the vast Enquire which H yours as well ns ours. weT.v Titan staggers under the too vast orb

of its fate. We have borne the burden for many years. We think it is time that our children should assist us to support it, and whenever you make the request to us be very sure that we shall hasten gladly to call you to our councils. If you are prepared at any time to take any share, any proportionate share in the burdens of the Empire, we are prepared to meet you with any proposal for giving to you a corresponding voice in the policy of the Empire.” MR ASQUITH ON THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE. Mr Asquith, talking to a big meeting of the Liberal associations of Cambridge last Monday evening, had a few remarks to make unon the fiscal question. As regards Preference he said he would first of all like its advocates to show a concrete case in which this policy could bn carried out without doing harm to the people here and the people in the colonies, financially and industrially, and without sowing the c e ds of jealousy and dissention as between tlm- (Efferent parts of the Chip ire. Liberals would then be prepared to consider the doctrine. As to the proposal for a conference Mr Asquith asked what was to be its basis P Unless there was going to be a basis of discussion settled beforehand. we might as well invite the colonists to disouss with us the uos-ibi by of an improvement in the British climate. Supposing their Conference was to be assembled, what offer was the Imperial Government prepared to mike to the colonists? Was it a Preference upon food by the taxing of food that came from foreign countries? That meant a. rise in the price of food for every household in this country. If the electors voted for a man who favoured this conference, they were logically giving a mandate to the next Parliament to nropose a preference upon Colonial food and a tax noon foreign food. And a preference unon raw materials was bound to follow, because without it we could not give a just or even preference as between different puts of the Empire. What would the colonies offer us? It was ridiculous to talk of Canada and Australia bein~ solid in favour of Preference. In favour of what kind of Preference? Only such a Preference as was consistent with the complete and undisturbed protection of th dr own native industries and Preference of that sort was worth nothing. WAITER A URI GOLD MINE,

The report of the directoi'S for the year ended May 31 last shows that during the year 1652 tons of ore from the mine have been treated, yielding £5037. Transfer fees and interest amount to £376. The expenditure on the working aocoimt in London and New Zealand amounted to £589:2. leaving a small lass for the year of £478. but, on the other hand £4930 has been received in dividends on Komata Reefs shares. The money spent on the development of the .jiouerty during the year amounted to £7,452: but against this there is a deduction cf £1,321, the amount of payments received for surplus plant .sold. The directors regret the disappointing nature of the results obtained from the mining operations of the company: but the dividends from the Komata Reefs Company, and the encouraging nature of their reports form a gratifying feature in the position. Unless more money can he provided, the directors think it advisable that the alternative of abandoning the boring operations and liquidating the company and distributing the Komata Reefs shares should be considered by the shareholders, and a resolution will he submitted to the extraordinary meeting convened to follow the ordinary meeting next week in order that shareholders may give a decision in the matter. JOTTINGS. The Indralema, which runs to New Zealand and Australia under the Tyser flag, has been placed in dry dock at Liverpool since her collision with the Manchester Corporation in the Manchester Ship Canal. The cargo is being discharged, and the necessary repairs will bo effected as rapidly as possible to enable the vessel to reload her cargo and proceed on her voyage without needless loss of time. The cargo is being carefully examined on discharge by x he Liverpool Salvage Association’s surveyors, and the damaged portions are being dealt with according to their recommendations, after communication with the shippers. A claim for salvage services has been made against the vessel and cargo by the owners of the tugs which rendered assistance after the accident.

Tho “Westminster Gazette” is responsible for the following story of distorted cablegrams:—“During the Land League agitation in Ireland. Mr Gladstone, in the course of a speech, referred to Mr Parnell and his followers as ‘marching through rapine to the dismemberment of the Empire.’ On the same day that Mr Gladstone spoke there was a big liorse-raoe, in which the winners were respectively ‘Veracity.’ ‘Tyrone,’ and ‘Lobster.’ These items of news were sent to New Zealand in the customary Vbb rev bated style. On the next day some of the New Zealand papers contained the following annommem nt: ‘Mr Gladstone, in a speech yesterday n London, denounced Mr Panmil as marching through rapine to the dismemberment of the Empire, and said

that the Irish leader had the veracity of a Tyrone lobster.’ ”