The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1876,

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2714, 9 December 1876, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1876,

The Hon F. Whitaker has written id the Auckland Board of Education, desiring that they should, as far as pbflsible,"pr^^ fordiflbh&rpd Provmciftl pffibera. Suift was the gist of. a te.legy.apj,puWisbei v Qn, Friday, and it has not yet been supple* ment^d by a,nyM>ther, informing the publio thab thei 1 Boflrd had written to the Hon F. Whitaker desiring him to mind his own business, and not attempt to inveigle the said Board into a conspiracy for abusing the public confidence. , The ridiculous, nature of the Attorney-General'a proposal is too self-evident to need much comment, bu|« ., the bare , , fact that he should have ventured to j»j\ quest a number of gontlomen, to whom the Assembly "has specially delegated a most important trust, r to ; be guilty of deliberate malversation in the discharge of their office — this fact affords a forcible illustration of the misconception existing in some ministerial minds in regard to the powers and , functions, pf a constitutional adviser of the JQrbwn.^ In a word, the circumstance brings into relief an idea, which has been for years acquiring form and substance in New Zealand politics, namely, that the words "responsible, minister" are interchangeable with^lrresponsible tyrant." No one who did not conceive himself the master of unlimited ppwer, would venture to make a domand upon a number of honourable men so grossly insulting as that which the telegram informs us was made by the Attorney- General on the Auckland ' Board tof Education. We hope; wli fchef f<(s6f fc^f the meeting at which tliia letter was read is to hand, to find that those to whom it was addressed vindicated their personal honour, and taught; their would-be autocrat his place by refusing to receive the letter in question. Of course the immoral proposition was cunningly disguised in words that were as bland, and apparently innocuous as British BBtuteness, backed by a Chinaman's artless "savez" could, make them. But while giving the honourable gentleman credit for the possession of both these qualities in a degree which is as rare in New Zealand as it is not admirable, :vfe< |3an{ Bearcfly. suppose, that even his skill in the confusion of 'the moral spectrum, could prevent the appearance of certain well defined dark lines on the face of his suggestion, or make its shadow seem all white, innocent, and ; charitable. The discharged civil,;, servants of the Provinces are unquestionably entitled to much public sympathy. As a reward for zeal and! efficiency through many years they have been broken by a grateful Colony, on the wheel of revolution, and the Ministry, which admitted their claim to compassion, basely deserted their cause in the Asaetnbly. But neither this desertion by their false friends, nor this breaking fon the wheel will convert worthy but unfortunate clerks into teachers, or render them fit to be placed in charge of public schools without' having under-' gone a course of training, and it Would eelf-evidontly bo a shameful misapplication of public money to use the education funds for the relief of distress amongst ex-Provincial clerks under, |lie : j pretext of paying them salaries as schoolmasters.