Bible in Schools.

Southland Times, Issue 9544, 14 June 1887, Page 2

Bible in Schools.

«- Tb9 following address by the uudersigaed memberß of the Legislature to the electors of New Zealand has been sent to ua from Wellington : — The provision in "The Education Act, 1877." which prohibits the reading of the Bible in the Public Schools, if, in onr opinion, a Btain on a community professing to be Christians. Efforts have been made in nearly every session of Parliament since 1877 to restore the Bible to its proper place in the schools, but so far without success. When it is considered that to a large majority— to nearly eighteenths— of the population of the colony, trie Kible >* an open book, regarded as the only utaud&rH of faith and morals, its continued exclusion from the schools cau be accounted f>r only on the supposition that a considerable section of the commuaity has not given the question that serious consi.leraf.ion which its importance demands. In the meantime the children are debarred from its u.«e in the schools, the only place in which many of them can have an opportunity of reading and becoming familiar with its promises and precepts. The Christian community has the remedy under its own control by taking heed that at the general election now impending, the electors should be largely influenced in their (selection of a candidate for a seat in the General Assembly by the Bupport which he will undertake to give to a measure which shall provide for an alteration in the law, so that the Bible may be read daily by the scholars in the public schools under the provision^ of a time tabie and a conscience clause. J. A. &. Menzies, M.L.C ; Mathew Holmes, M;L.O; De Reazie Brett, M.L 0 ; Henry Chamberlain, M.L.C ; J. W. Barnicoat, M.L.C; H. Williams, M.L.C; j W. Peter, M.L.U ; T. Fraser, M.L.C ; J. I Barton Ackland, M.L 0 ; W. D. H. Baillie. ■ M.L.C ; Wm. Robinn'm, M.L.C ; J. A. Bonar, M.L.C; W. Downie Stewart, M.H.R ; John McKenzie. M.H.R ; Jamei Fulton, M.H.JLI, Cuthbert Cowan, M.H.R ; Richard Turnanil, M.H.S; A. H. Ross, M.H.R; J. H. Sitter. M.H.R.