The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1878.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2007, 6 April 1878, Page 3

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1878.

The new Boards of Education are now elected, and w« think that both the Canterbury districts are to be congratulated upon th ir personnel. When the proposal was first made to have a separate Board for the South, one objection raised by those who opposed it was that there would not be enough men of the right stamp to make up the Board. Not a few, indeed, of those who had taken an active part m educational matters here, were of opinion that it would be better fo remain under a Board of educated and responsible men at Christchurch than to run the risk of falling into the hands of an illiterate and inferior Board of our own. We never held this view ourselves, but always felt confident that South Canterbury could, if the election were properly managed, furnish every bit as good a Board 'as North Canterbury. All that we feared was that, the Education Act having prescribed an exceedingly precarious and hap-hazard method of electing the Boards, chance instead of choice would rule, and many of the most desirable candidates would be omitted. As things have turned out, however, the nine gentlemen who stand at the head of the list are the very ones, probably, whom the district at large would wish to have on the Board ; and are certainly of a character to set all anxieties at rest as to the possibility of South Canterbury producing a sufficiency of suitable men, The new Board is not only eminently respectable by the attainments, ability, and social standing- of those who compose it, but is also thoroughly representative. No portion of the district can feel that its necessities or interests will be overlooked or negiected by a Board constituted as the present one is. It is mainly made up of present or former Chairmen of School Committees, and comprises no one who cannot be depended upon to work well for the cause of education. We confidently anticipate tbe best results from the administration by this body of the large and important functions entrusted to them; but vre trust that they will recognise, nevertheless, that they do not constitute the whole educational machinery of the district. We have always held that the School Committees could perfectly well have carried 00 education without any Boards at all j and we still hold that the latter will do wisely to afford the fullest possible scope to the Committees. The actual executive work of school management must remain m the hands of the Committees, and, so long as they apply themselves to their

duties assiduously und intelligently, it seems to us that tbe less they are interfered with the better. The principal objection to the late Canterbury Board was its tendency to exercise vexations and uh'necpssnry control m mutters o( detail; of which the CommittuHs were much better judges than it could possibly be. We hope thntthe new Board will, not fall into the same mistake, but that, discerning the »re;it advantages to be derived from local froverumenr, m educational affairs, will freely .yield .to the Committees not- only the powers and privileges assigned to them by the letter of thfr law,' but^lso such other facilities for fr^e, action as the most liberal reading- of the Act will admit ot. We observe that the Press of yesterday has a leading article devoted to laudations of Mr Ilabens, lately Sec retary of the Canterbury Board of EducatioD, and commendatory of his appointment by the Guvernment to the office of Inspector General of Schools. The Board of Education adopted the same strain m accepting Mr Habens' resignation of the Secretaryship and approved of his promotion 10 the higher post with so much affability, that we should think the Government will feel quite proud of having made so wonderfully judicious a choice. It is only natural that the selection of Mr Habens for the important position of Inspector-General of Schools should give great satisfaction at Christchurch j but we confess that, looking at it from a somewhat broader point of view, we consider that the appointment is by no means free from objection. Mr Habens may have been an unexceptionable^ secretary to the r ßo'aTcTdf Education. We have no doubt he was so.- He may very probably prove an excellent Inspector General of Schools. We sincerely hope and believe that he will do so. But does it not occur to those who are crowing so lustily over his appointment, and praising the Government lor having made it as if it were charactersed almost by inspired wisdom, that it is grossly unjust to the Civil Service of the colony ? This.coveted4jppointment h&s, no doubt, been eagerly competed for by many of the oldest and ablest public servants ; Bhd it must be very galling to find their claims put aside m favor of one who not only is perfectly new to tthe colonial service, but had only been a very short, time m the Provincial service. We are as ready as anyone to admit all Mr Habens':zeal, intelligence, and all the rest of it,-, but we aie quite sure, notwithstanding, that his appointment will cause wide-spread heartburnings, and that it will by no means be bailed m other parts of the colony with the same satisfaction that it has caused at Christchurch. If the Civil Service ot-New Zealand is ever to be worth anything, the rules of promotion must be adhered to, and officers of standing and experience must not be embittered by seeing all the plums given away one by one to outsiders.