The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 570, 28 February 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1878.

Tin: la:k of sufficient school accommodation throughout the Colony is becoming

a matter for very serious consideration

From almost every quarter we learn of

applicants for admission into the public schools being turned away by the per-

pl.-x._-d masters owing to the want of room to accommodate them. Tins faer.

of course, go:s to prove that there m.i.'t have 1-■•> n hundreds—aye, tlmusr.tids of c'.:Mri:n running about t,:e

Colony, prior to the coming mx<> force of the new Education Ac:, receiving r.o education. It :i!*» proves that the L"i;.is!:ititre when deciding that eduea:ioii in the Colony should be free almost entirely omitted to consider the tremendous additions to the number of scholars that woidd result from the adoption of the new system ; for the-amount set down for new -school buildings and i additions to those already in existence is totally inadequate to meet the demands t made" The sum voted by Parliament for j those purposes lias proved but as a drop iin a bucket. From every direction cries } are sent to the K incut io:i Hoards for additional school accommodation, ■<■■■''■ the

reply almost invariably received has been : • : We recognise the urgency of your

demands. h:\l wo have not the funds at

our disposal ■:■ enable »s TO Comply Wit!

y.ur reoiiest." The result is that ail applications are earefuiiy put on one side- tor future consideration. When they will re-

ceive consideration, goodness only Knows,

for almost every week increases tiie nuin- ■' her of the demands, aud adds u> the pel- i plexity and bewilderment of the Boards. What" will be the end of tiiis state of ' ait-iira it is hard to forsee ; but of one | thing we may rest assured—some amendment in the Education Act will have to be effected by Parliament next session. j What shape that alteration wiil take it is j i diiiicnlt to surmise : but it appears to us [that the only course open to l.e followed I wiil be a return to the old system or -„,. . .;., ,i f,, cs it is M.rfeCtlv inipostnt: ?.:-u<<---. nis. '■ " » clear that the ill-.hx-ahU of pounds re- ! quired to reme,r the school buildings euua! | I to the d,mamis made upon them cannot

be obtained out »i the ordinary revenue of tiie C'-Im.V. while it would be madness, ~r something v-.-ry closely akin thereto, 1,, iiiia-in-j the money required should \o !; ;e ~ut ,i loan. There is alreaoV :l Mi;iic'iel!t Strain Ui»'U the Vcsoure/s -.-i i'U- Colony. Parliament, for si me reason b._si known to its members, .kcided to strike out die capitation clans-, by which the parents of children would have been compelled to contribute directly towards the cost of providing free education, whether or not they permitted their children to share in its blessings. If that clause had been allowed to remain in the Bill there would have been sufiij cient funds at the disposal of Education j Boards to meet the de-mauds made upon ! them. It is altogether improbable thai | the Legislature will consent nest session j to adopt the course which last year it | refused to accept : and we therefore \ fear tha: there is nothing fur it but a ! rciuni in some measure to the ..Idsystem. | We Lave entered upon a system or free j education before we were fuily prepared 1 for ir. The hrst thing to have been done j would have been to provide school aceomJmodation sufficient for the reception of I the rising generation, and then to have j opened the schools free to ever}' child m \ the Colonv, with a compulsory clause n i n< eessarv. The Legislature did not follow ' this course, however. It at once declared j that education should be free and permis- | lively compulsory, and now we are treated j to the distressing spectacle of hundreds of [children being almost forcibly driven j from the doors of those schools whose

\ portals the law declares shall be open to j ■ them t» enter unbidden and uninvited. ' \z would 1-j \v(jr.=e than useless to enter ': u;..i!i ;. discussion of the wrongs which | C :iv t'isi3 meessarily indicted upon hmi- ; ,iiv.!.s i.-i children —children who have hitherto, owing to the inability or un- • i willingness of their parenis to pay school ■ fees. Lv.n debarred from partaking of the i bkssin-s of education. What wo have to • ■ conquer, and what the Legislature will • have to consider is : By what means can U'v "resent unsatisfactory state of affairs ■-'.'in.' remedied -' As wc have said, the only I ; course v.-hieh appears open for adoption is >' to return to the old system of imposing fee.'. To adopt such a course ' i would of course, be to acknowledge that 1 j v.-e have attempted something beyond our ; ! power : but however disagreeable it may i j be t > i-.avo to retrace our steps, to do so <' would be a thousand times preferable to " I continuing tha injustice which is at present . ; bfinu' intlioted upon hundreds of parents -1 Mid children, who are at present debarred " i from participating in the benefits arising * '. from a system devised for the benefit of i ! r.II. and towards the maintenance of which ' I all have to contribute. Although we may \ hfcve to return to the system of school i

fees, it is not altogether necessary or politic that the old scales of charges should bo adopted in their entirety. Let a moderate fee be charged, and the School Committees be fully empowered to grant free education to children whose parents, from any cause, are unable to pay the ■:.Miool fees. We would even go the length of saying that no parent should be called upon to" pay for the schooling of more than a certain number of children. Were such a course adopted, we think that the number of malcontents would be verv limited, and by no possibility could it be said that the whole were contributing towards an educational system, in the participation of the benefits

of which system only a portion were permitted to indulge. It must also be borne in mind that not only does the new educational system render additional school accommodation necessary. It must lead to many other heavy items of expenditure of public money. The tremendous influx of additional scholars must perforce render an increase of the teaching power an urgent necessity. It would be folly to suppose that number of teachers who have hitherto done duty in Government schools would be equal to the task of imparting I instruction to the very large number of additional scholars which have been received into those schools. Though we have endeavoured to point out what we consider the only course open to be followed, we shall with satisfaction receive any feasible method of overcoming the present difficulty that may be propounded. Notwithstanding that we have i suggested a return to the imposition of school fees, we must confess our admiration for the system of free education, for by that means only are we likely to obtain anything like universal education in the Colony.