The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1907. TEMPERANCE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9024, 3 September 1907, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1907. TEMPERANCE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS.

Even r. very large section of what is known as the " Moderate ■ v Party is in sympathy with much of the excellent work that is being done by the New Zealand Alliance in promoting the effective control of the liquor traffic, but that section Avill strongly oppose the attempt to graft the platform of the Alliance on to the. syllabus of the State schools. Nobody can. have any objection to the principles of hygiene and temperance, in the proper definition of the word, being instilled into the youthful mind in a legitimate manner, but "temperance ' ; has come to mean " prohibition " in the Alliance mind, and upon that question there is a very gravo difference of opinion among the public. The deputation which waited upon the Minister of Education yesterday desired that the Government should provide- an expert to teach temperance in the State schools, or, failing that, that it should subsidise an expert appointed by the Alliance to do the same work. Mr Fowkis justified his Ministerial position by declining to adopt either suggestion. It is well known that his sympathies lio in the- direction of the prohibition of the liquor trade, but lie had 'die wisdom to recognise that in. this matter he was representing a large section of tho community who hold different views. H would be jnst as proper for a deputation representing the Liberal Party to p.sk tlwi t its politics should bo added to the syllabus, or for tlie Anti-Chinese League to ask that abhorrence- of "the Chinaman should be taught as a class .subject. It lias always been thr boast of the colony that its system of education i«s free and secular, and designed not to conflict with the convictions of any substantial portion of its population, and this estimate of its character has always been jealously guarded by tho Government of the day. Nor do we see how the Government could very w».-l' spend the money of "Moderates" in teaching their children something to which their parents are diametrically opposed. To subsidise such an experiment with Government moneys would bn to create an unsavoury precedent. There could, of course, be no objection, to sillowin.se the specialist to be eiijra.a;-»cl by the- Alliance to visit the schoolsout of school hours and give instruct^n in "temperance" to such of the children, as their parents allowed to attend, but the suggestion ironi Mr Aitken that tho instructor should interview the teachers, and impress them with tho temperance ideal, was litt.e short of an impertinence. The Alliance could secure better results by organising bands of workers to forward it<s propaganda under legitimate circumstances than by attempting to foist its platform upon the syllabus of the State shook The subject is distinctly and emphatic allv not one for such treatment.