THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12376, 9 February 1911, Page 5

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.

[ (Per Press Association.) > AUCKLAND, this day. s An important speech was made by the Minister of Education at the opening of ■ the Grey Lynn school this afternoon. > Tho Minister, after referring to the'pros gress of education under the national free, secular and compulsory system, i- said he had always avoided anything m he naturo of political partisanship m [ the administration of the department. Many political opponents had publicly . testified to this fact. It was true there l had been agitations m favor of introducr ing Bible lessons, but at election times the great mass of people had been un- . mistakeably m favor of maintaining the existing system, which had served the I country so well. The present government stood by tho present system. Per- [ sonally he stood unequivocally for the maintenance of the existing system. Rather than be a party to any fundamental change he would prefer being | excluded altogether from the public life 1 of the Dominion. The will of the people must prevail. The democracy of this country would look critically at any proposal tending to take us back to the dangerous and unsatisfactory by-paths of denominationalism, from which we escaped after much tribulation m 1877.