The waipawa Mail Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1886.

Waipawa Mail, Volume X, Issue 1023, 16 December 1886, Page 2

The waipawa Mail Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1886.

“ Reduce the cost of Education,” —that is the cry. “ The cost of teaching the “ young is so great a drag upon the re- “ sources of this colony that parents of “ children who take advantage of the “ State Schools ought to be made to pay in “ proportion to the advantage which they “ reap.” This is the most recent development in colonial political economy. In a word, it is proposed to fling aside one of the boons of which colonists have been so justly proud, and on account of which public writers have congratulated New Zealand and held it up as an example of progress and prosperity. To take away our free schools would be to break up the foundation upon which the future greatness of the colony is to be built, must bo built, if any greatness is to be achieved at all, any enlightenment and prosperity to be developed. But there are many very radical alterations that would and should be made in the administration of the Education system of this colonj' ; and it surprises us that those who desire to see free education abolished do not first direct their attention to paring the system of its luxuries instead of raising a line and cry about the cost of what may clearly he called its necessities When High Schools have been abolished, at least so far as being Gdvernrnent Institutions, it will be quite time enough to talk of making the parents of children who attend free State Schools pay for their education. And that is paramount to protecting the lower schools for all eternity, for the rich endownments which bolster up the High Schools would reduce the cost of the State Schools to a mere nothing if they were applied to the latter instead of the former. By all means retrench ; by all means reduce the cost of Education ; but begin at the right place and do not commence the clipping operation from the wrong end. That would be grossly unpractical and unfair. It is hard to see how such an expensive, and by nature vicious, system as that of subsidising High Schools, can be tolerated in a colony where protection 'is hooted down, and in which democratic institutions are supposed to flourish. High Schools provide the community with luxuries ; that alone is a weak point in them. Then they are expensive, and expensive out of proportion to what well-conducted schools would be, established by private enterprise and subjected to healthy competition. It is all very well to say that a poor man’s child may go to a High School if he is clever and promising and may win a scholarship, but how many of them do succeed in getting there? It is a fallacy, an absurd and transparent fallacy to say that if High Schools were abolished, the only chance that poor people’s children have of receiving o higher education would be taken from them. Surely, the Government could give scholarships just the same, worth so much for so long, and the

parents of the successful children could choose what school they would send them to. When once the monopoly in teaching establishments was done away with, once the unnatural and unhealthy support which the State now provides to High Schools ceased to be given, a new field would be opened and school after school would spring into existence in every centre of population. Some of these would be equal, no doubt, to the very beet seminaries at Homo, whilst others would supply a long-felt want in the shape of private schools, where, for a moderate fee, the young could receive a sound modern education

The reductions could even go further ; but this depends chiefly on the necessity for such a reduction existing. If the country found that, after abolishing High Schools, the cost of education was still too great for it to bear in its present tliinly populated state, freo education could be limited to teaching up to the third and fourth standards. It were better to instil that amount of knowledge into the minds of the young than to turn them loose untrained and untaught altogether. It must be remembered that the moment education ceases to be free it also ceases to be compulsory. The State can say “ We compel you to do this ; and we do “ not charge you anything for the ad- “ vantages which you gain by so doing.” But it cannot say “ Do this, and pay for it too.” So that if education were made no longer free, it would cease to be compulsory. This would be a step backward ; a dismal retrogression ; a melancholy homily on our vaunted freedom and advancement.

What wo can do without, that let us cheerfully part with. But never let the thought be for one moment fostered that the cost of Education should bo reduced by abolishing free and compulsory schools. Or if the day should como when every penny must be wrung from the community to pay the demands of creditors or the interest on hoi rowed millions, and when it is found absolutely necessary to make parents pay for the privilege of using State Schools, let-that day be staved off till the last, and if it is inevitable, let it be accepted mournfully os the last sign of departed freedom, the last shattered hope for advancement and liberty and progress and all that we now look forward to with pride and confidence.

Yesterday the attention of the Resident Magistrate was occupied in considering another sly grog selling case, from Ormondville. Mr Chas. Leach, the former publican, was the offender, and upon pleading guilty (ultimately) to the charge, lie was fined i£ls with costs. This was a substantial penalty, but not by any means a severe one in tlio eyes of the law. The magistrate took a lenient view of the case as it was a “ first offence,” and so Mr Leacii got off with an easier penalty than he would otherwise have had to pay. This was quite right, and wo are glad the full penalties of the law were not brought down upon the head of the offender ; but it should be a warning to him for the future. One of the chief reasons why several who are inclined towards temperance principles advocated a renewal of licenses in the bush was that sly-grog selling was going on to such an outrageous extent and it was felt that the closing movement had not been a success and that the sly-grog selling and drinking was worse than the open sale and consumption of liquor. So there was general feeling towards granting licenses to hotels once more, provided that the licensees be reliable men. The licensing committee were elected on the single question of granting licenses, and, since election, meetings have been held and all applicants have been promised licenses in June next. All this is satisfactory, and we feci that the district will not suffer cither in morality or in temperance from the fact that drink will be sold openly instead of slyly. But there is still a very important question to be decided, and although the committee may have made certain promises to certain individuals, they will he at perfect liberty to cancel those promises if the individuals do not continue to hold a character suitable to the responsibility of keeping licensed houses. This is a question which affects the comfort and safety of the public most vitally, and really constitutes the most difficult and important duty which the licensing committee will have to fulfil. Mr Leacii has not begun his time of probation in a very promising manner, lie received every encouragement, as a local man, and as one who had perhaps suffered from the rather arbitrary behaviour of a previous licensing committee, and it was well known that the uewly elected committee would receive any application from him with favor. Everything was being done to help him and others similarly situated to regain their former positions as landlords of hotels. And yet, in the promise of all this prosperity and future good fortune ho deliberately breaks the law and commits one of the most serious offences that a man can be guilty of, this side of robbery or forgery aud the like, viz., sly-grog selling. Let us hope, now that there is every certainty of future licenses being granted, that there will be no more law-breaking in the bush. It will bo a crying disgrace to our civilization, a satire on what we call law and order, if drink is sold on the sly when it has been legally prohibited, for the time being at any rate. Some excuse may have existed in the past, but there is none now, and it will he the duty of the police force to put down every species of sly-grog selling with a strong and pitiless hand. It is but a short time to wait, till Juno next, yet it islongenough for the committee to watch carefully the behaviour of those who are applying for licenses to be granted them at that time. They will, in June, have to decide as to the fitness of persons to undertake the responsibilities of retailing intoxicating liquors. If the would-be publicans descend in the meanwhile to deliberate law-break-ing, it will bo a difficult matter for any committee to regard them as respectable men in an}' sense of the term. All eyes are on Ormondvillo. The second crisis on the drink question is rapidly approaching. Whatever is done will have to bear the concentrated criticism of hundreds of people ; and the committee will not daro to grant licenses excepting to men who choose to act honorably and obey the laws of their country.