The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1873. THE HIGH SCHOOL DUNEDIN, AND SCHOOLING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 33, 13 December 1873, Page 5

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1873. THE HIGH SCHOOL DUNEDIN, AND SCHOOLING.

Last week the Superintendent told a deputation from the University three things, which, though mentioned only incidentally, are of great importance and significance. These are, that the High school for "boys will be removed 1 after the new year to the Rectory ; that the pension for boarders will be reduced to ,±4O a year ; and that the Provincial Government will subsidize the boarding establishment

There is here a text for our public writers, and we shall wait with some curiosity to see how they will make use of it. Meantime, we shall ventilate our own view of the case. VV hat we had anticipated ia already beginning to be realized. For some time it has appeared clear to us that before long an effort would be made to give an absolutely free high education to the children of well-to-do Presbyterians ; and that the Provincial Government would soon provide not only the school buildings, and masters and mistresses, but also the food, clothing, and books. We had not however anticipated that a beginning of all this would be made so soon. But events arc hurrying more rapidly to their full development than could have been expected. Our Government has undertaken to pay in part for the board of all pupils in the High School Rectory. This will appear so monstrous to people generally that unless we give the very words of i;he Superintendent we shall be charged with exaggeration. We shall quote from the report of the ' Daily Times ' of the 4th ins*. The Superintendent — •« Ido not know whether it would be possible to make arrangements with the Rector ; but he is bound now to take boarders at £40 a year." Mr Cargill— "It ought to be £20 a year— thought £40 a year was far too much to charge." Tlie Superintendent—" And even as it is, the Government has to supplement it." What will the hard-working men of the Province— the miners, small farmers, artizans, &c— say to this 1 They will be called upon to pay for the bread and butter of the sons of men who can afford to pay a pension of £40 a year for them, in order that these boys may receive an education that will be beyond the reach of their own children. Some foolish people thought it both impolitic and immoral to call upon the community at large to spend from ten to twenty thousand pounds sterling on buildings, and to pay annually about two thousand pounds to provide cheap tuition chiefly for the children of Dunedin gentlemen, and cheap boarding for all comers ; but what will the public say now 1 An equilibrium, it appears, is a'tout to be established : country people are to be put on a footing of equality with the citizens, and cheap bread and butter are to be the set off against cheap tuition. Unfortunately, however, this equilibrium is not to be permitted to be felt below a certain stratum of^society— the sacred £40 stratum. This is made up of citizens who can pay £8 per annum for tuition, and country people who can afford £40 a year towards the boarding of their children. What a blessed thing it will be to find oneself tn situ in this stratum 1 and as to all others, why they are the profanum vulgwt to be treated as the Roman poet suggests, driven away as something intolerable. The only pleasure, honor, and advantage, the rest of the community, not having the indispensable £40 a year will enjoy, shall consist m ministering to the elite of society ; such as the members of the Executive and Provincial Councils; the parsons «nd the merchants; the lawyers and the doctors, together with run -holders and other well-to-do people; and providing their sweet and superior children with some of their bread and butter. And after all is it not good enough for such common folk who have not £40 a year with which to educate a boy 1 particularly as there is a prospect that before long they will also enjoy the supreme felicity of providing these heaven-sent children with pantaloons and dandy caps" perhaps even with marbles and cricket requisites, for .egitiraato means of recreation are as necessary as food for schoo.l boys. But ib will be said by way of appeasing dissatisfied colors sts, there are burses for the deserving, and your children can try and win them. This no doubt is true, but an answer iiisiy be made and certainly will to this effect : There are T.owbursestoa certain extent for all who can pay £40 a yjjr, bat as we cannot afford this sum we fail to see why on that account, or on any account, we should be compelled to contribute to the board and lodging of those who can. There is one statement made above that will be vehemently denied, viz.— "That it appeared clear to us—that a time v as not iar distant when an effort would be made to give an a absolutely free high education to the children of well-to-do Presbyterians." The answer no doubt will be that all the ;,dvaiitages of our public schools are thrown open to all. But b : must be shallow minded who cannot see through this dustExperience tells us that public endowments in Protestant countries soon become practically the exclusive possession of the dominant party. So it has been and is tc !> s day in England, Ireland and Scotland, and so it will Le here : under the present system of education the Presby

terians are almost as exclusively in possession of all its advantages as if the law said none but Presbyterians shall profit by them. And this is particularly true in reference to the High school boarding house. People of other denominations do not as a matter of fact, except in rare cases, send their children to board with teachers who are Presbyterians. For example members of the Church of England prefer Canterbury or Melbourne to Dunedin High school. This is only natural, and it is mentioned merely as an illustration for the purpose of shewing how in practice public endowment* become the exclusive property of the majority. When, therefore, a majority such as is found here, labors to establish a common system in opposition to a denominational one, it is not liberality or a sense of justice or souud policy that actuates them, but a narrow selfishness. Their conduct is in reality hypocritical, for notwithstanding fairly worded laws and liberal professions, they know they can by administration, efficaciously appropriate all, or nearly all to themselves, as in point of fact they do here. Denominationaliets are charged with a desire to proselytise to their respective denominations, because they desire to have denominational schools. This is a strange charge to come from Presbyterians, who have all Government schools in their hands, read their Bible to Catholic children, and have under their control a Benevolent Institution in which all the Catholic children have lost their faith. Such a charge could only have proceeded from men who judging others by themselves charge upon others their own designs and acts. For there ia not a tittle of evidence to show that denominationalists entertain any such design. We are not the apologists of the Church of England people, but we have never seen any proof of such a design on their part. For ourselves we can say that such is not our desire. Our object is not proselytism, but the saving of the faith of our children, and their salvation. Our object is to rear up our children in their faith which is that of their fathers, and to save them from pernicious errors. And this is a good and laudable object, and one that all Catholics are bound to promote by all means in their power. - In the course of the interview of the University deputat tion with the Superintendent, the Rev. Dr. Stuart said — " If the High school be removed to the Rectory, Mrs. Burns could never occupy anything like the whole of the building." The Rev. Doctor ought to know, and we shall be much mistaken if his opinion be not endorsed by the public. The High school building, then, which tlie Province ha 3 erected at such enormous expense will remain partly empty and waste, whilst the common schools of Dunedin are crowded to suffocation, and a site cannot be procured for a fourth school. Certainly the Executive cannot be congratulated on the success of their administration of the High school. Here is a muddle indeed, but it is only such as might have been expected when Gov n eminent steps beyond its legitimate functions and takes upon itself to discharge the duties that immediately devolve upon parents. We conclude this article with some pertinent remarks taken from the " Study of sociology " in the September number of the Contemporary Review — " This belief in the moralizing effects of intellectual culture, flatly contradicted by facts, is absurd a priori. What imaginable connexion ia there between the learning that certain clusters of marks oa paper stand for certain words, and the getting of a higher sense of duty ? What possible effect can acquirement of facility in making written signs cf sounds have in strengthening the desire tv do right 1 How does knowledge of the multiplication table, or quickness in adding and dividing, tend to increase the sympathies as to restrain the tendency to trespass against one's fellow-creatures ? In what way can the attainment of accuracy in spelling and parsing &c, make the sentimeut of justice more powerful than it was? or why from stores of geographical information, pcrseveringly gained is there likely to come increased regard lor truth ? The irrelation between such causes and such effects, is almost as great as that between exercise ef tbe fingers and strengthening of the legs. One who sliould by lessons in Latin hope to give a knowledge of Geometry, or oue who should expect practice in drawing to be followed by expressive rendering of a sonata, would be thought fit for an asylum ; and yet he would be scarcely more irrational than are those who by discipline of the intellectual faculties expect to produce better feelings. — (p. 515.) " Everywhere there is a tacit enuueiation of the marvellous doctrine tliat citizens aro not responsible individually for the bringing up each of his own children, but that these same citizens incorporated into a society are each of them responsible for the bringing up of everybody else's children I The

obligation does not fall on Am his capacity of father to rear the minds as well as the bodies of his offspring ; but in his capacity of citizen there does fall on him the obligation of mentally rearing the offspring of B. C. D. and the rest, -who similarly have their direct parental obligations made secondary to their indirect obligations to children not their own ! Already it is estimated that, as matters are now being arranged, parents will soon pay in school-fees for their own children only one-sixth of the amount which is paid by them through taxes, rates, and voluntary contributions, for children at large ; in terms of money, the claims of children at large to their care will be taken at six times the claim of their own children ! And if, looking back forty years, we observe, the growth of the public claim versus the private claim, we may infer that the private claim will presently be absorbed wholly. Already the correlative theory is becoming 6O definite and positive that you meet with the notion uttered as though it were an unquestionable truth, that criminals are 'society's failures.' Presently it will be seen that, since good bodily development, as well as good mental development, is a pre-requisite of good citizenship (for without it the citizen cannot maintain himself, and so avoid wrong-doing), society is responsible also for the proper feeding and clothing of children ; indeed in school board discussions, there is already an occasional admission that no logically defensible halting-place can be found between the two. And we are progressing towards the wonderful notion, here and there finding tacit expression, that people are to marry when they feel inclined, and other people are to take the consequences."