The Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1868.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 111, 21 September 1868, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1868.

Tnß Lyttelton Times of Saturday contains au article to which wo take exception on very obvious grounds. Our contemporary is gWen to sermonising occasionally, and when we had read the article referred to ie required a considerable mental effort to throw off the impression that we had, someho\r, endured a, very commonplace discourse from the pulpit. The writer, after telling us what was done last session of the Assembly with regard to the scholarship question, complacently assures us that the foundation of these scholarships to British Universities i* likely to raise the char.ierer of education throughout fcha colony. "Iv every school," says the article, " however humble, and more especially in our own province, where there are local exhibitions in connection with one of the superior schools, there would be the feeling that some one of the pupils might, by industry, perseverance, and good conduct, win the inestimable benefit of a tluve years' visit to the great seats of learning in the Old Country." Now, we dou't intend to dispute the " inestimable beuofit," &0., but we hope to be able to shew, clearly enough, that it will be entirely confined to tho sons of the wealthier colonists. Iv the first place, the scholarships which Mr Dillon 801 l asks the Government to agree to will be competed for by youths of from fifteen to eighteen. Before they are in a position to compete, it will have K i en necessary that they should have received a long, consecutive, and comparatively expensive education— that they should, in fact, have attended school uninterruptedly from the age at which boys are usually sent there ; that they should have done nothing else but attend to their educa tion. We ask, therefore, in all earnestness, whether the general run of colonists are in a position to ksep their sona atschool in this way. Are labourers, tradesmen, mechanics, farmers, iv a position to comply with the very first step — the most vital pomt — necessary to the attainment of these pcholarshipa by their sous ? Can they afford to keep their boys always tit school for tho necessary time ? And, in addi tion, can they afford to pay for the high class of instruction necessary ? We leave the public to answer these questions for themselves. There is, however, another objection. It is proposed to make the scholarships of the annual value of £250. Well, a young man might certainly live on this at one of the British Universities, but ho would be placed in a false position. Our own belief is — and we claim to know something about the matter — that from £50 to jGIOO a year, at the least, would be required in addition to the scholarship. Can the class of people we have already referred, toj afford to make this yearly allowance to/ their sons? It appears to us thai these objections are both weighty anfl reasonable, and that the flcholarshii) scheme is not all that its advocaMs would have us believe. There are several other objections to the scholar ships, but it is not necessary to refer to these in the meantime.