The Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1877.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4810, 18 July 1877, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1877.

The Government is pledged to introduce an Education Bill in the Assembly, and Mr Hislop, witk his great experience and tact, has been summoned to Wellington, to assist in drafting it. The miserable abortion of last session merited its fate as a "slaughtered innocent." Something less crude must take its place. One of the chief struggles in the coming session will be over this Bill. The clauses that affect religious. teaching will be a sure.bone ..of. conten-i tion. The Hon. Mr Stafford has observed a discreet silence on. this point. ; The wary Nestor in politics has notbeen followed by the more determined claimants of DeHominationalEducation. The meeting at .St.'Paul's.School-room; on Monday night fairly represents the; objects and the arguments of this! party. The objects are more frankly5 avowed than usual; the arguments j

display the customary weakness. With one exception, the reasons assigned by Dr Nevill are all stale. The new fact adduced really tells on the other side.

No religious man cari possibly take exception to the premises of Mr Byng's resolution, Religion is a social benefit, and youth is the best; time for its impartation. But it does not follow that " evsiy opportunity," good, bad, or indifferent—should be" afforded; The whole question is begged in. thw general phrase, inasmuch as 'iL.all" hinges on whether the national schools afford a good or a bad opportunity. We unhesitatingly pronounce it a bad one. Having begun wrongly, the meeting were quite ready to go further in their evil ways. Under the lead of Dr Nevill, they committed themselves to the foolish demand, that religious teaching should be given during school hours, and the unjust requirement that denominational schools should be supported by Government. This is plain speech certainly, there is no discreet silence here. The Bishop must be credited with his frankness. Dr Nevill coolly assumes, that there is no I religious teaching in the schools. This is a daring assumption on his part, and can only be justified by the more daring assumption that where neither a catechism nor a clergyman has entrance, there can be no religious teaching worth the name. How Christian teaching may be given through Bible reading ■ — through. Christian conduct as well as through Church; formulas. Church formulas are excluded from the schools of Otago. Bible reading and Christian conduct are both present in nearly every school in the Province. These are not usually introduced by the clergy, very seldom in fact; still, they are present. It is! the non-clerical introduction of the religious teaching which vexes the good Bishop's righteous soul. He would introduce the Home principle, and every Nonconformist who has lived in the rural districts can tell that the practice to which he looks back with longing regrets was fraught with irritation and injustice to many a conscientious man and woman, who were compelled to choose between the sacrifice of the child's education and the abjuring of their cherished beliefs. "Clergymen want, as ; a matter of right," to teach in the Government schools. What right, forsooth, more than a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker?. Who gives the clergy this right ? What are the basis and elements of it 1 The answer that can alone be given, is the.right of Apostolic succession, or of proper ordination. If the Bishop pines for a school to which his own clergy can have free and full access, let him follow on the lines of Bishop Mo ran, and in private schools exercise his right to the full. ...;:,-

The " larrikinism " of Melbourne is nest employed against the Victorian system. Dr Nevill does not know the system. It allows religious teaching out of school hours, arid before .the morning school. /Arid his argument breaks: down utterly before thei fact that youthful .wickedness is as rife in Glasgow or Liverpool as in Mel-; ;bourne,;arid ignorance of; the nanie of; ;God ;is not infrequent r ampng • the! city Arabs ofXondbn. >The fact is not; as implied^ arid.; if;", it were," it proves ■ nothing.l :•.•.;.-:.-: ! ■- .■-.■.•':. -.■•■.':" ■ ■r.--[r.i: \

\ iDi ISTevill also quotes^ the Bishop; of Man^estfeTf'iirid^ibi: ;HpDGE.;"r.!DnBJj latter is designed td catch tfae Presby•} terians. Dr Hodge no more, represents the ■grb^v^;'.;curfent" pf \ Scotch i opinion on Education than Dr Begg: represent it on Psalniddy. The" true: blue" knows thewiles ofßishops^ ".■01d,.-•.■•birds are. not. to'^feanghtii with chaffs The reference i6Dr j Eraser's opinion is less subtle and more! effective, =, because the Bishop !of Mari-i Chester;not only talks much and talks! sensibly, but has his factsVon education; welUnhand.;. Dr Nevill's reference: is somewhat general, and pur reply; iriusfc be the same. Dr FKASEH'sr'-j port was made more than ten years ■ ago. Since then the secular system i has made such strides that President; Grant declares any other to be out of' the question. Does this look;-. : as -if; "the Americans are' tiredof it V ;

The "parents'right''is next trotted! out.. It is the: clergyman's right to! teach in the jachools, but; it is theparents' right to get him,permission*; They are to "insist upon l^eir; political; representatives getting, .'religious eduoa-1 tion for their ■•childreni-!!.:, : '".'i)H:i.the! ißislibp land in Ncr Zealand yester-i day? Has he-been living at the;! Antarctic Pole; for the last ten years ? i How, then, is it that he does not rknow; that if there is one point on. which s Australasian politicians are agreed, it isthat a State Church shall not be at i this end of the world; and that nearly: .every. Act passed ; at... Westminster] goes: towards freeing the from all corporate religious function^ ?: We can further assure him that the drift; of all Provincial Ordinances has been setting for years dead. against his preposterous demands. We call them preposterous because it is a claim for the acclimatisation of Church rates and • the endowment of the clergy. "The: funds are mostly provided by parents;;: therefore, they have a right to demand religious education." This again begs the qiVesfciori of what they do pay for. We pay our butcher for meat; have we the right;.to demand bread in addi-; tion? The parents pay the schoolmaster for secular education | if they : want more, let them pay the clergyman: by supporting private denominational: ; 'schools/ ■'■■'-" ■"■ "!-:-: '■ ''''"■■ ■ ■.•■■-•' ;:: '■ -.■•';'. I

The Bishop reserves'a new plea for the close of his speech. "The Birmingham League is dead "-—therefore,: &c, &c, everything follows. Not at all.! The League is not dead; it is only; resolving to perform the happy despatch. It has not been slain by its ! adversary, nor defeated in the battle. It only weeps like Alexander because there are no new fields for it to conquer. Its work has been such a success that a strong body of the Liberal party-—including nearly all the Nonconformists—have accepted the League platform ,as their own. The principles have been ventilated, and have^been adopted by a political party aaan essential of their policy. This isi not "unsuccessful agitation." Besides, the demands of the League have been already largely obtained. Of the six points, all but free schools have been in measure or altogether granted. The League is about to die, as the Anti-Corn-law League died before it, because it has done its work so far that it can trust to direct political Action for the rest. Dr Nevili/s laboured address

will be very persuasive to those who do not feel the claw of ecclesiasticism in the cushion of religious sentiment, and to thpse who cannot test his facts, or will not question his reasoning; A demagogue appeals to the people; a political demagogue'urges them!to take action at the ballot-box. Whether the Bishop be a hona fide parent or: riot, he has been among the first in Dunedin to proclaim himself ipso facto & " political demagogue." This is no new role for a Bishop to take. As politicians -we welcome this addition to our ranks, in the hope that his next feat of arms will be more worthy of his prowess than this remarkably feeble exhibition, for the speech breaks down at one point after ■the other. His serried reasonings fail all along the line. . .

The Taranaki, with the San Francisco mails on Board, left Wellington at seven o'clock last evening. She left Nelson at midnight yesterday, arrived at Picton at 9 a.m., sailed at 10, arrived at Wellington at 3.30 p.m., sailing again at 7. The mails may be looked for early on Thursday morning. At the nomination of candidates for the Mayoralty of Duriedin yesterday, Messrs It. H. Leary, W. Woodland, and Barnard Isaac were duly propoced. A report of the proceedings appears elsewhere. The En^'sh items which we publish today were brought to Melbourne by the steamer Kent, whose news is a week later than that by the last Suez mail. On Friday evening the testimonial from the people of Otago will be presented to Mv Macandrew at the Princess Theatre at half-pa-;t 7 o'clock, and shortly after a banquet wiH be given to him at Watson's. There is to be a public meeting regarding the ironworkers on the came night, but the testimonial will be presented in time to allow people to attend both. Mr J. B. Bradshaw yesterday received applications for nearly 5C JO shares in the Union Insurance Company. ■ Mails for Australia, per Tararm, wi 11. close; at 3 p.m. on Thursday, the 19th insc. ; There wa^ a further flitting of Parliament tary gentlemen yesterday, the Taupo taking away, en route, for Wellington, si.T or ceveni members, including Hon. W. H. Eeynolds, I Hon. Dr Menzics, Me-srs Seaton, Burns, De Latour, Manders, rid Shrimski. We are proud to see the Union Steam: Shipping Company — a Company which started from such small beginnings in. Dunedin— becoming a veritable Australasian I institution. A Sydney telegram which we; publish this morning states that the Company hai obtained the contract for convey-: ing the Suez mails from Sydney to New Caledonia. While we have pleasure in. see-' ing the Company enlarging its field, of operations, we wou'd be glad to hear of its; steamers running between the ports of this ■ Oolony and the South Sea*j. The child that wa3 found h St. Joseph's Church some time ago, the mother of which was a woman liamed Ryan, and which was brought into the Hospital, died yesterday. An inquest is to be held to-day. A very great deal hw been written, to the minutest details, showing the unsuitability of the dredge; not to mention divers alleged hindrances cast in the, way of the deep water channel contractors by the Harhour Board. We have been at pains to; .ascertain_.the,real _state_pf _things,.and find 1 that the delay is not owing to the HarbourBoard, but is ipainly owing to the fact that! plant ordered by the contractors hss not! come^ to: hand. ■■'.. 'A delay of "two- or rthree; months vtUl thus be caused. Certainly Hrj Proudfoot; is: bound down to-complete! the! work'witnimU: specified; period, atd .it'js',^oi be presumed he will accomplish1, it-within; that period.-.A* tha sanietimo-itisrpniy: right that the public should; kkow;of the! delay that is taking place in the execution of ■ a work of vital moment to Danedin. V ' At a special meeting of the Waste Laiids: Board yesterday, a memorial from -the Teviot settlers, asking for SCTD acres of.; run 199 (leased by Messrs Cargill and An-i • derson) to be -thrown- open- for-settlement,■ was considered.' The Board refused to grant the application " in view of legislation re.: garding the land Jaws of-Otago probably' taking place during the approaching session of Parliament." ..'.':' ; A special meeting of the Port Chalmers Town-Council was held on Monday evening; to consider tenders for laying water piper along the piers, and of the ceveral cent in that of Mcrsrs A. and T. Bart .was accepted Ji accordance with schedule prices. ■ The total sum is about £4C ).:. :',\ The Choral Society met for rehearsal last evening., Present—Conductor (MrTowsey),! sopranos, 10; tenors, 9; altos, 3; basses, 6; total, 30. A Milton resident was ongaged yesterday: in canvassing that town for name 3of those: who would be wiping to patronise Dun:din -bakerß;~hrconsequence-of "the high "price of! bread in Milton, at present lOd a loaf. ! The Clutha Agricultural and Pas'^rat Association has;decided to. send a delegate-to; represent it at the meeting which is. to be held in Dunedin in connection with the : Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The Tokomairirb Farmers' Club has decided not to do so. ■''■; . • An inquest was held last Friday at Naseby,: in the Ballarat Hotel, before Mr L. W.i Busch, J.P., on the body ef August Augustus,; a miner. On the previous day deceased was: mining in a tail-race with two other men, when a portion of the side of the same fell upon him, killing him instantly. \ He was a' native of Sweden, and is not known to have' any relatives in New Zealand. ; A verdict; of "Accidentally killed by a fall of earth .": was retarued. ; • . Signor Morley,weUkri6wn to the musical public of, Dunedin a3 the principal tenor of the Simonaen Opera. Company during their New Zealand tour, is now in Dunedin, en route for America, and intends, if he cahi possibly make arrangements, to give one or two concerts—the principal feature of which will be Selections from his own: compositions, notably his opera of "The Rivals." Lately there has been a dearth of good musical: entertainments in Dunedin, and we have: little doubt that, should Signor Morley decide to give these concerts, they will be •wellpatrbriiaed; v We have aeceived from Messrs Wise atid; Co. a copy, published at the Lyttelton Times Office, of Huxley's New York Lectures. The pamphlet has on former occasions been noticed in our columns. The last opportunity the public will have of witnessing the Georgia Minstrels in their clever entertainment will ba this evening, as they leave to-morrow for Milton, proceeding thence to Balclutha and Tuapeka. The Princess Theatre last night was very well attended, and the programme passed off sue. cessfully, a comic dancing sketch, "The Rivals," being one of its principal features.

Mr Leary will address the electors this evening in the Oddfellows' Hall, at 7.45. Mr Woodland will address the ratepayers this evening, at the Peacock Hotel, at 7.30; and at Cotter's Hotel, Great King atreet, at 8.30. '

At the request of Mr laaac'a Committee, he has consented to Address the ratepayers in each Ward, beginning at Golder's Hotel; Albany street, at 7.30 this evening ; and at Fagan's Southern Hotel, Princes Btreet, at 8.45." ■■'■.':'«; .--d y ..''..'.- ,f fl'j ./]:': ."',,1 ' ';