The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 17, 8 June 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1872.

Jo accuse the advocates ol £>tate aid to Denominational Schools" of being" inimical to the cause of popular education would be to commit an injustice. It would, no doubt, be nearer the truth to say that the advocates of the system are so blinded by their religious prejudices or convictions that they are incapable of seeing that if they succeed in obtaining the end tor which they are agitating, that the diffusion of education through the whole population will be impossible. As evidence of their want of ability to grasp the vital [joints of the question we quote the following resolution which it was attempted to pass through the Provincial Council of Otago : —"That this Council recognises the right of the Roman Catholic body to partici- ! pate in the annual grant for educatioual pur- | poses/' We are nob aware that any. man or | body of men has ever denied the truth and i justice of this proposition. What all sensible S men, however, who have considered the question with unprejudiced'minds, do say, is:— ! That every denomination has an equal right I with the Roman Catholics to participate in i the u'rant, for education to which ali contri- | bute, and that if each sect., the number of | which it would be difficult to estimate, puts I forward a similar claim, education will be- | come impossible. The advocates of the ! secular system are not opposed to religious J teaching, as the opposite pariy are only too ready to accuse them of being ; this statement is onl} made lor th« purpose of prejudicing the minds of the ignorant and of those who are too lazy to think tor themselves. 'Let | us. for the sake of illustrating the question, take any township in the "YVaikato. In a population of from three to four hundred we shall find at leant a dozen sects represented ; so that to carry out the system with impartiality we should have to establish a school for every thirty-three of the population, which of course, is impossible. AVe have not as yet | got any Chinese amongst us, but in the event | of their coming to settle, in common justice, i a grant would have to be given for the inl struction of the young Celestial in the reli-

I g-iou of his ancestors. j It is to be hoped that before the Education i Bill is brought, into the Houfe, that the clause ; which enacts that the Bible >hall be read in ! all schools yvill be withdrawn, otherwise the lioman Catholics will be justified in throwing ; every opposition in the way of its progress ! through the House. The State has no right | whatever to insist upon any form being gone ; through in a school which offends any section of j the population, and if any Ed ucation Act is to be ' brought into force in iNew Zealand the reli- ! gious instruction'of our children upon parents and the clergy of the various denominations. The advocates of denominationatism are leaving-no stone unturned to bring pressure on the House. Petitions are being drawn up and signed by large numbers,yetthose who are opposed to the system have as yet taken no steps. We are confident that a very large majority of the people in this district are oppose! to the granting of aid feo denominational schools. 'They must be so it they want an S efficient and general system of education. We

would suggest that petitions to the House be immediately prepared and sent through the country for signatures. A counter petition would no doubt receive the signatures of those who would rathet* see no education at all, than that the opportunity pf inculcating their particular dogmas by the aid of the schoolmaster should be lost. We do not wish to be we do not advocate the cxclnaion of religious teaching from our schools because we under-estimate the value of such teachisig, but because wo see the utter impracticably of educating the people unless the instruction impartedinonr schools is purely secular. If a child is taught to read and write it is ready to receive religious instruction, and our clergy will have to exert their energy on a mind already to some extent prepared to understand their teachings. To sum up the question, denominational education means no educaiiou at all for the great majority of the children growing up in this colony.