The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1898.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2864, 15 November 1898, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1898.

During the course of last session the Premier did not show to advantage m his attitude towards the question of technical education. The constituencies would gladly see a settlement effected on lines which would not commit the State to anything antagonistic to the principle underlying the present system of national education. The Premier's Bill of the previous session had been taken exception to because under its provisions assistance for technical education could be given to schools of a denominational character. Possibly too much was made of the point by the opponents of the Bill, but nevertheless there was the great fact of a strenuous resistance which it was quite evident that the Premier had no means of overcoming. His method of meeting the difficulty was to give up the Bill ; that is to say, he showed clearly that he thought less of the advantages to be derived from technical education than he did of the clause that had been taken exception to. He could not have his own way entirely, and therefore the people, as far as the State was concerned, should not have technical education. Shortly before the close of last session Mr Pirani asked the Premier whether he had any serious intention of proceeding with the Technical Schools Bill. In reply the Premier admitted the necessity that there was for dealing with the question, but said that " he had not the assurance that the threatened obstruction on the part of honourable members would not eventuate. If he had the assurance that the Bill would receive fair consideration, and that the decision on the part of honourable members would be allowed t© be passed into law, he would be very glad to give the opportunity of consideration. He did think it was a serious loss to the youth of the colony to allow this most important question to stand over for a year.'? Then Mr Meredith, the member for Ashley, rose to make a personal explanation. He said that when the question was before the House at the close of the previous session he was one of those who took a deep interest m it, and he now assured the Premier that " he (Mr Meredith) would be prepared to assist him m every way possible to place the Technical Education Bill m the statute book if the Premier would undertake to eliminate every vestige of State aid to denominational schools from the provisions of the Bill — to confine the Bill to the public schools of the colony, and to be administered by Education Boards." No doubt many other members would have spoken to the same effect if they had had the opportunity, but a debate could not be raised on the asking of a question, and even the few remarks of Mr Meredith (put forward under the guise of personal explanation) were objected to. The Premier denied that any vestige of aid to denominational schools could be discovered m the Bill, and he therefore claimed Mr Meredith's support. The answer was not m accordance with the fact, though the words "denominational school" do not occur m the Bill. Mr Pirani then asked another question — " Whether the Premier will, m the event of the Technical Education Bill not being passed this session, introduce a short measure empowering the Government to advance pound for pound on amounts subscribed for technical-school buildings under the control of the Education Boards ?" Mr Pirani said that he was as much opposed as the member for Ashley was to any subsidy being given to denominational schools, and therefore he thought that if a temporary Bill was introduced increasing the amount of subsidy, there would be no opposition to it, providing the increase were given to schools under the control of Education Boards. Mr Pirani got no satisfaction from the Premier, who said that "he was not one of those men who believed m trifling with important questions. He believed that if anything was done m this matter it ought to be done after careful consideration, and that it would only be encouraging obstruction if he were to give way and bring m a measure to give temporary relief." We have italicised the word " obstruction " because its use by the Premier on that occasion was extraordinary. We have heard enough from the Premier and other members of the Government of obstruction as something of which the Opposition are continually guilty, but m this answer to Mr Pirani obstruction is attributed to a majority of the House, who were not willing to accept a provision m the Technical Education Bill which they believed struck a blow at the State secular system of education. The House was of one mind and the Premier of another, and according to him the House ought to have given way, and not having done so were guilty

of obstruction. It was a comical view to take of the constitutional relations existing between the Ministry of the day and the representatives of the people. However, the question of technical education was shelved for the year, and the constituencies ought to bear m mind the person who was responsible for the delay. The Pre- 1 mier, and he alone, was responsible. ' If he had chosen to abandon the clauses which were objected to as throwing open the door to subsidising denominational schools, he could have got his Bill through Parliament without the smallest difficulty. In our opinion he was guilty of a serious and deliberate offence against the constituencies, who are determined to uphold the national system of education, and who, like their representatives, believed that the clauses referred to threatened that system. For ourselves it is well known that we are m favour of giving State assistance to outside schools which have a certain number of pupils and are maintained at a proper standard of efficiency, and we do not believe that the State system would suffer if our views were given effect to. But that is neither here nor there, and we mention it only for the purpose of | showing that what we have said m this article has not been dictated by a bigoted dislike to giving State assistance to schools outside the State system. But if there is ever to be such a mixed system let it be introduced, openly and m response to the demands of the people, and not artfully and covertly by the head of the Government acting contrary to what he knows to be the desire of Parliament and the constituencies.