CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 250, 28 February 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

A "NIGHT SCHOOL." Much has been written on "education" lately, "education" generally being taken to mean the amount of other men's memorised knowledge that can be crammed into a youngster's head in the shortest time. The world has plenty of ignorant Masters of Arts and plenty' of intelligent illiterates, and in the far future avenues to eminence will not be open only to those who are merely capable of making their minds temporary sponges to suck up facts. Mr. F. Dela- ' mere, a Wellington College graduate, has lately spoken much more to the purpose than some chancellors and professors who have entered the controversy. "Victoria College," remarked the critic, "has 400 students per year. Of these a certain number will be prepared to follow faithfully the paths of knowledge; to devote time and brains and patience in the true spirit, with their faces set steadfastly towards wisdom and not towards degree results. But the proportion is small. I am understating the cose when I say that a majority treat the college as a night school, and does not even take sufficient interest in the surroundings to buy the college magazine. There is a scramble for a I degree, which is within the reach of any sturdy crammer. Soft subjects are in demand, and brainy men strain for the I extraordinary results—double firsts and double-banked degrees which mean mental gluttony and end in mental indigestion. Perhaps the funniest and most consistent thing about the attitude of our university dictators is that they i do their best to award Rhodes Scholari ships on these soul-rending degrees. It is said that when the final ballot is at hand, some statistical phenomenon will reel off a summary of examination marks, and the thing is done. A Rhodes Scholarship may be granted on the strength of the very thing which has made the candidate forsake his fellows, which would, if this were an ordinary trust, ensure his disqualification. The system Iws strangely but effectively twisted the point of view. And if ther,e is a worst to this thing, the worst of it is that the ; cram system pays—pays from the point of view of university rewards. Our • system would, I believe, break down under much more favorable conditions than we can provide. We have night lectures and ofTcr degrees to hard-worked school teachers, public servants, and law stud--1 ents, who begin their study after a day's work. To such the degree means : something- practical, and they cannot be ' blamed for taking the shortest road—the road which is free and open to all. Now, I do not contend 4 that these should be prevented from taking their degrees. I believe that a great national good is by Opening to such the highest 'road. But I see clearly that the time is coming when the university will have to choose between two paths. It will have to say 'No purely night students,' or 'degrees only on the guarantee that real university training lias been received.' We cannot be content with shams, and the present system is doomed."

MR. FOWLDS IN DEPRECATION. On Friday night last leading Christchurch men spoke some excellent thoughts on "citizenship," told the people what their duties were, and generally gave them a guide for their future conduct. There are no new truths about anything, and least of all about citizenship, the only outstanding point being that man is very imitative, and that one citizen who knows his duty will compel followers to emulate his bright example. But Mr. Fowlds touched a point that seems to need touching when he deprecated the proneness of the people of the Dominion to rely on financial aid from the State. The person who has a milch cow milks her, if he is not a fool. If the State persists in being a milch cow, it is the State's fault if the people gather round the bucket and fight for their share. Unfortunately, the system of leaning heavily on the State in every form of enterprise has to a more or less extent been fostered by the State, and as Mr. Fowlds is a Minister of the Crown his obvious duty is to persist in a determination to make public bodies, corporations and persons more self-re-liant. In almost all undertakings in New Zealand, it is a natural instinct with the persons who are interested to approach the Government for aid. Such people are not to be blamed, for they have crusted old precedents to follow. If the system continue it will be difficult shortly to determine not who shall obtain State aid, but who shall not. The Minister, in his speech, seemed to link his remarks about this general begging business with the beautification of cities, and probably meant to show that it was more worthy for wealthy folk who had made their money by the expansion of cities and towns to help improvement schemes than for towns to go cap in hand to the State. Nobody could be found to dispute this contention, but as long as the State cow is in full milk and her keepers do not prohibit all and sundry from stripping her—she will be stripped. It remains for Mr. Fowlds and the Ministry to order her to run dry.

PLURAL VOTING. The freu and independent citizen of New Zealand is not harassed at the elections by any of the class advantages which handicap the proletariat. At Home it is different, and it is estimated that there are half a million plural voters in <;reat Uritain, and that three fourths of these at least are Conservative,'! Recording to Mr. F. K. Smith,'" about 400.000 plural votes are used at a «eneral election. There is no complete" record of the distribution of the pluralists, hut the Liberal Magazine has collected some very useful statistics which show how the plural voter defeats the voice of democracy. There are several kinds of plural voters. First, there is the ownership voter, not necessarily a a pluralist, as he may reside on his property. Next, the voter who owns property but lives outside the constituency. He is an absentee voter, who defeats the representative system. There is still another class of out-voter, who has votes l for property which is not even in the constituency. This is a relic of an antiquated system, and the present registration and polling arrangements, which make it difficult for ordinary citizens to obtain their votes and to keep them, are

very accommodating for this worst type of pluralist. The Liberal Magazine gives a list of twenty-five constituencies in each of which a Conservative was returned at the iast election by the aid of plural lists. The number of plurat votes recorded in each of the divisions was far in excess of the Unionist majorities. The magazine also adds four other constituencies for which the exact figures are not given, and there are no doubt many others to which the same conditions apply. Dartford is an interesting example. More than ti per cent, of the total electorate are out-voters, and 842 of these have absolutely no interest in the division whatever. They vote because they have 1 rent charges or an interest in properties in different parts of the country. These out-voters were out-voted themselves by the resident Liberals at the last election, but lite Tory majority in January, 1910, was much less than the number of plural votes recorded on that occasion.