The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1904. KEEPING THE FLAG FLYING.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12477, 14 September 1904, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1904. KEEPING THE FLAG FLYING.

The Premier, in the course of a speech with which he dignified the ceremony of "presenting a charter" to the- Petone branch of the Liberal and Labour Federation on Monday night, delivered himself of an exhortation to his auditors to bj prepared for a big fight at the next election, and to "keep the Liberal flag flying." That is a worthy battle-cry, and one that was never more needed than it is to-day. The Liberal flag which floats over the heads of Mr Seddon's legions is the emblem of a policy suited rather to the autocracy of Russia than to the government of a colony which is supposed to be in the full enjoy?nent of free and representative institutions. The historic phrase, " Who's boss here," which was addressed, on a certain famous occasion by the Premier to the Commandant of the Forces, Colonel Pole-Penton, might be inscribed as the general's motto on the banner which he is urging his followers to keep unfurled to the breeze. True Liberalism will never be restored to New Zealand until that emblem of the " boss" is hauled down from the colony's flagstaff, and the pennon of pure government and honest administration is run up in its stead. As the Premier, in the remarkable speech which he delivered at Petone, referred particularly to education, we will take that subject first. He lias made the astounding discovery that his political oppontnts strive tooth and nail to gain seats on Education Boards in order to discredit the Government by making exorbitant demands for money which the Cabinet are -unable to give, and he. has the effrontery to assert that the men who devote a great deal of time and energy to the purely honorary work of these bodies are inspired, not by any desire for the advancement of the cause of education, but by animus against the political views of which Mr Seddon is the principal exponent. Let us contrast this with a few remarks made at the meeting of the South Canterbury Board of Education yesterday. We suppose that few districts are privileged to have the services of a chairman with so much leisure and so much enthusiasm as Mr Howell brings to the discharge of his duties. In his annual address yesterday, Mr Howell referred to the 4 pernicious practice which has grown up in every department of State during Mr Seddon's long j term of office, and which made it possible ■ for the Premier to employ the offensively dictatorial remark to the Commandant which we have already quoted. That practice is the transference of all Teal authority to Wellington, and the conse- | quent curtailment of the powers of local bodies, including Education Boards, until they have been shorn of nearly every vestige of control and have been reduced to t.lie position of instruments for executing the will of the 'Minister. Our report of yesterday's meeting of the Board in Timaru .•hows some of the effects of this system under which the final decision in local mat- , ters rests with dictators in Wellington who have no intimate knowledge of local requirements, and who are not amenable to the representations of the people most directly interested. Nothing has come of the applications for grants for residences in such places as Chamberlain; three such requests for financial assistance have been pigeon-holed in Wellington, and the Government, as the secretary told the Board, "has apparently hung the whole matter up." Under these circumstances, we do not see how the Education Boards manage to be guilty of that wild extravagance of which Mr Seddon accused them at Petone. The South Canterbury Board, at any rate, had some Ministerial encouragement to believe that they would be allowed to splash , a little money in providing a residence at j Chamberlain that would attract a teacher j of some description, so that the school might at least be kept open, instead of having to close its doors agaiDst the- children*of a Government settlement. Some months ago, when Mr Seddon accepted the urgent demand of certain admirers to do the grand tour of South Canterbury, he was vastly more extravagant of promises iu this direction than the prodigal Education Boards are of the money doled out to them. Fair words, however, butter no parsnips, and our country districts still look in vain for their school residences. In a short time, if the present reluctance of males to enter or remain in the teaching profession continues, both teachers and residences will be wanting. Judging by the chairman's remarks yesterday, the staffs in South Canterbury seem ■» be in a constant turmoil. Such a c« tion of affairs is not creditable to a Government who have been in office for twelve years, and •who are appealing for support to keep their flag at the masthead of the ship of State. Despite Royal Commissions, and conferences of experts, the Minister and his chief executive officer (the Under-Secretary) are unable to devise a scheme that will carry on the work of education smoothly and efficiently. The whole trouble, it seems to us, is that the Government, in education as in other matters, are more anxious to make displays of legislation, and pile up big statute books every year, than to mako sure and steady progress and see thaW existing legislation is satisfactorily administered. The whole education system in recent years has been turned topsy-tuvv*y. Crude, undigested schemes for technical education, for the staffing of schools, for the training of teachers, and for the im-

parting of infinite stores of knowledge to infant minds,, are embodied in laws, and none of fhem are worked out on a financial bonis. Wo hava dealt at such length with education that \rc can only touch on other subjects, but the same faulty administration in to be s;en in every department. Did any Minister ever have to listen to swell plain talking as Mr HallJones got from his own party about the lunatic asylums and the Waitali Inebriates' Home? The administration of the land laws has beon so defective that the Government had to seek refuse in the temporary expedient of a Royal Commission. The police force was not put on a satisfactory footing until a private memb:r forced the Government to convict themselves of gross ineptitude. We rould elaborate instances from other departments, but if anything else was needed, the fearful muddlo into which our licensing legislation has been brought is evident from last night's debato in the House of Representatives. All this is the kind of thing that Mr Soddon tries to cover up in the amplo .folds of his wonderful "Liberal flag," w!hich, by dint of strenuous efforts of party organisation, he has kept flying for a surprisingly long time.