SIR JAMES FERGUSSON ON EDUCATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4123, 8 June 1874, Page 3

SIR JAMES FERGUSSON ON EDUCATION.

At the Auckland Grammar School on June Ist, his Excellency the Governor, Sir James •Fergusson, presented the prizes to the successful competitors among the 130 scholars attending the institution. His Excellency, before distributing the prizes, addressed those assembled, and afterwards the scholars. We make the following extracts from his interesting speech, as reported in our Auckland contemporaries : HIGHER EDUCATION. I am most glad to attend so as to testify the value I set upon such institutions as these. I believe there is nothing more important to this jrreat and growing Colony than that institutions for the higher education of our youth should be fostered and encouraged. We must look forward to the great future which is before New Zealand, and endeavor that the young men of the higher and middle classes shall be well fitted to take that position which awaits them ; and not only so, but that all, to whatever class they belong, who have energy and the anxiety to rise, shall have the opportunity afforded them by the .State. I am glad to know that this institution was early founded by the wisdom of the Government, that it has been sufficiently provided with the means of carrying out its objects, and that it has met, on the whole, with a fair amount of encouragement. Of course all institutions, especially in their early stages, are subject to times of prosperity and depression, and the numbers attending the school have proved that, taking one year with another, there have been times more prosperous than others. But I am gratified that the school is now steadily progressing, not only in numbers, but also in efficiency. It has my very best wishes for its success, and in attending here to-day I am only endeavoring, in the humble way in which it is in my power, to aid its prosperity and testify my sense of its value. Allow me to point out that the duty of supporting such an institution as this rests upon more than one section. The Government have fulfilled their part, but it upon the public, by their support and encouragement, to show that they rightly estimate the value of the institution. It belongs to the parents to show they value the education provided for their children, and it belongs to the members of the institution to show that they appreciate the privileges extended to them. EDUCATION OF NATIVES. I shall not detain you with more than a few words, but the importance which is attached to the visit of the Governor induces me to think I ought not to pass such a remark without saying some words which appear to mo not only applicable but my duty to utter. First, with regard to the objects of the institution. I notice by its fundamental provisions that it is intended to bo available not only to us Europeans, but to the Natives of the country. Now when I ask how far it has fulfilled the latter portion of its performances, I venture to think it lias fallen short of that which its original promoters had hoped from it. In visiting the various parts of the country during my first year of office, and particularly in becoming acquainted with the Native population, I have been struck with the little care that is being taken to fit the sous of the Native

chiefs for the position which ought to be theirs. We see, unfortunately, the Natives to a great extent indulging in bad habits ; and how, I ask, can we hope that it can be otherwise if their natural leaders are not fitted to encourage and restrain them from injurious practices ? What could we hope of our own youth of the better classes were they allowed to grow up in the village schools without restraint or discipline, or without being fitted in any respect to occupy the position of eminence and responsibility to which they are expected to aspire ? And can Ave look for better things—can we expect so much—of the i children of those who are themselves uneducated, and who in many cases have yielded to the temptations that are calculated to prove fatal to their race ? I think this is a matter which ought to come seriously home even at this day to the Government and people of this Colony. We ought to look diligently for means by which the sons of Maori chiefs might be brought up to set an example to their people and to take part not only in their management, but in the General Government and service of the country. They ought to have the best education that the country can afford. But to turn even the best born Maori boys loose in a school like this would be injurious both to themselves and to the school itself. It seems to me that there ought to be, especially here in Auckland, a boarding-house in which the sons of chiefs could be managed in the manner best suited to their condition, their previous education, and their characters, in order that they might attend, under proper tutorship, this higher class of school, and so be gradually brought up to do better than their fathers have done before them, to set an example to their people, and to lead them to higher and better things. Unless something of this sort is done systematically, we will not be fulfilling our duty to the Native race. Justice, kindness, and generosity have not been absent in our treatment of the Maoris, but to a great extent system has been wanting. ADVICE TO YOT'TH. But while I say these things to our older friends, the public, I would address a few words to those I see before me—the present pupils of this institution. I would ask them to remember that the period of life through which they are now passing is that which is to fit them for their future career ; that if their education is to be thorough it has many sides to it, and that the degree in which they take advantage of it will be, to a great extent, the test of their future success and excellence in life. For in proportion as you now embrace the opportunities extended to you, or neglect them, you may depend upon it to a great extent will be your comparative success, or failure, in after life. The character of a young •man is not made in a day ; it grows up like a tree —by slow degrees—and unless the roots are spread deeply, and unless the outward influences are steadily exercised he will not attain that degree of perfection for which he was designed. Therefore I say to you, with all the earnestness in my power, take advantage of the opportunities now before you ; don't despise them however small they may seem to you ; but remember that you are laying the foundation of the future, and that all your life long you will look back with satisfaction or regret to the degree in which you did take advantage of them. And let excellence be your object. Be not content with simply escaping censure or taking a tolerable place. Let each one feel that he has abilities of his own which can be turned to the best account, and let his one aim and object be to make the best of them. And if you fail in any contest, whatever it is, let not failure discourage you ; because the mere effort to attain success is in itself beneficial, and in failure you see the deficiencies which were yours and those which you have to guard against for the future. I would ask you to remember that you have two separate classes of duties —to yourselves and to others. Every one of you owes a high duty to himself, and, as I have said, the regret which will attend him if he neglects his opportunities will be as long as his life lasts. But you have duties to others not less than to yourselves. You have duties to your parents, who, in many eases, have made great sacrifices for your interests ; you have duties to your masters, whose credit is, to a great extent, involved in the use which you make of their teaching ; you have duties to your school, that it lose not credit by the faults of individuals ; you have to your companions, that no evil example of yours may do them injury. I would ask you to remember that earnestness is everything, and to carry it into your sports as well as into your school duties, and that the best boys are not only. - those who are most steady in school, buttha't they arc often distinguished by being first in the field. / THE EXAJirLE OF BISHOP PATTESON". I would put before you one well-known hero, whose name will be honored as loug as New Zealand—l would almost say as long as England—lasts : one who was a hero, a Christian hero, and a hero as great as any one who has received the thanks of his Sovereign and of Parliament the late Bishop. Patteson. (Cheers.) I would ask you to think what Bishop Patteson's life was. As recently published it is v engaging a great deal of attention, and is even most interesting to boys. At school he was the first in games ; he was second in the eleven at Eton ; at Oxford he was the popular rmder-graduate ; as in after-life he gained the affection of all by whom he was surrounded. He was not a mere book-worm who had no bright side to his life, but was most earnest in his pursuit of duty, most conscientious in its discharge. He was also beloved and respected in private life. But how was it he was so successful ? In the first place, his abilities, as he told us himself, were not of a first-rate order. It was because ho : was diligent in the acquisition of scholarship in the first place which enabled him in after life to master languages most difficult to Europeans, one by one, with a facility which lie could not have . attained had he not been most attentive to his early cultivation. He succeeded because ho always set the right thing before them. As his biographer said, his face was always set in the right way. AVhatever was his duty, he did it heartily; and whatever was wrong, that he knew to be wrong, he turned away from. I will read you an extract from his life that will show you what his character was. fix uno disce omiics. " There was no Puritanism in him; he was up to any fun, sang his song at a cricket and football dinner as joyfully as the youngest of the party; but if mirth sank into coarseness or ribaldry, that instant Patteson's conduct was fearless and uncompromising. A custom had arisen among some of the boys of singing offensive songs on these occasions, and he, who as second of the eleven, stood in the position of one of the entertainers, gave notice beforehand that he was not going to tolerate anything of the sort. One of the boys, however, began to sing something objectionable, Patteson called out, ' If that does not stop, I shall leave the room,' and as no notice was taken, he actually went away with a few other brave lads. He afterwards found that as he said, fellows who could not understand such feelings, 'thought him affected,'and he felt himself obliged to send word to the captain that unless an apology were given, he should leave the eleven—no small sacrifice considering what cricket was to him; but the gentlemanlike and proper feeling of the better Btyle of boys prevailed, and the eleven knew their interests too well to part with him, so the apology was made, and he retained his position." (Cheers.) What I wish to point out to you is, that Bishop Patteson's success was not the result of impulse, although in after life he yielded to the call to sacrifice himself in the highest service. Second, as I have said, to no hero—not to disparage those who have been themselves in the service of their King and country—Bishoji Patteson's service was in that of the King of Kings. But he did not rise to such' a height by one flight. It was because as a schoolboy he was earnest, as a son he, was dutiful, as a clergyman he was eminent in all that was good, as a missionary he was paiustaldng and hardworking, until at last he became a sainted hero and a martyr. And although it is not given to all to rise as high as ho rose, yet you have examples even here in New Zealand of heroes. Look at the late Bishop of New

Zealand, who is as highly honored now as any man in England. Look at many who are following iu his footsteps and obeying his precepts, although perhaps in a different walk of life to that which yon will travel; yet you have all open before you a career which may be calculated to make you happy iu this world and leave a happy remembrance of you when you are gone. (Cheers.)