The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1878. THE NEW EDUCATION ACT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 265, 31 May 1878, Page 11

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1878. THE NEW EDUCATION ACT.

E do not know whether our legislators are ashamed of their -work of the last session ; so far at all events as legislation in reference to education is concerned. But this ■we do know that they ought to be ashamed. Our.legislators are the paid servants of the public, and ought to give honest work in return for their pay and honours. Hare they done so? The contest low raging between the Dunedin School Committee and the

Otago Board of Education answers this question very fully. Where were all the lawyers of both houses of Parliament, or what were they doing when this godless Act was passingthrough Committee ? Where was our present Attorney General ? Or if they were in the House of Representatives, or the Legislative Council, and paying attention to their work, what can he said as to their brains and their legal knowledge? This godless Education Act has been so framed that it has succeeded wonderfully in setting by the ears the various bodies appointed to administer the new law. The Otago Board of Education, knowing itself to be bound to consult School Committees as to the appointment of teachers, so manages, that its treatment of the Dunedin School Committee for example, amounts to a farce. The appointment committee of the Board, a body unknown to the law, makes up its mind to recommend certain appointments to the Board, and then coolly asks the School Committee if it has any objection to such appointments without affording any further information. Whereupon the committee is indignant, and justly so, and warns the persons appointed by the Board not to accept th« situations of teachers in the Albany-street School. Both sides have something to say in their favour. The Board affirms that the law gives it the exclusive power to appoint teachers, which is true ; and the School Committee maintains that before appointments are made, it should be really consulted, and that the farce of a consultation is against both the letter and the spirit of the new law. This it appears to us is also true.

There is now a species of dead-lock, and who is to solve the difficulty ? Will there be .in appeal to the Supreme Court, ox- will the parties wait till the meeting of Parliament, and for a new Act to amend the law made last Session ? The latter alternative, we suppose, will he adopted. But, then, ■what a commentary on the capacity of our legislators for their work does not this afford ! We see from the report of Mr. Swanson's speech, at Ponsonby, given by one of our contemporaries, that Mr. Swastson. the member for Newton, seems to regret his want of education, because it has prevented him from taking office in the Government of the colony. It appears to us that if his modesty, in not attempting office, had also induced him, and what we say of him is true of a good many others, to reflect that want of education, is also a reason sufficient to persuade men of common sense to decline Parliamentary honours, it would be very much better for the colony and the cause of legislation. A great deal of time is lost, a greaj; amount of money unnecessarily spent, and a great deal of harm done by men undertaking duties,' for the proper discharge of which they are totally unfit. And in nothing is all this so true as in the matter of law-making. Men who understood their business would frame intelligible and wise laws, that would not require amending for generations, in one tenth of the time spent by bunglers and incompetent persons in making laws that cannot be understood, or that only lead to increased litigation, or that must be either repealed or amended forthwith. Such a state of things is highly discreditable, and ought to bring a blush to the cheeks of many members of Parliament, if, indeed, such a praiseworthy thing is possible.

Few Acts of Parliament hare been more highly lauded than the Act for the promotion of godless education. Wo never could see any reason for the universal chorus of aclmiva- \ tion with which its becoming- law was greeted, except its secularism — which, after all, means its godlessncss. And it is pretty plain that the haste with which it was passed, and the little care and attention given to the consideration of its details, ai'ose from the feverish anxiety of its patrons to have the principle of godlessness sanctioned by the Legislature at any hazard. And these gentlemen have now their reward in the universal discontent its provisions have aroused, and tlie jealousies it lias engendered. Our warning voice was not only unheeded, but derided ; and, even more, we do believe that this measui*c was hurried through the houses of Parliament all the more rapidly because of our remonstrances. It was thought that this mode of proceeding would read us a lesson not likely to be forgotten, and it was hoped that free and godless education would divide and consequently weaken the Catholic body, and render denominationalists powerless. It was fully expected that denominational schools could not survive the inauguration of the new system. But how futile have been all these anticipations, the result has proved. The new Act, the new system of g-odless education, has not succeeded in closing even one Catholic school. On the contrary, its only effect on Catholics has been to arouse 313W energies and create new resources. Catholics are more determined now than ever that their children shall not be subjected to godless influences, and more firmly resolved than ever to maintain their own schools. Since the passing- of the godless Act, new Catholic schools have been built, old ones enlarged, greater unity and energy have been manifested than were before visible, whilst in the ranks of the godless, only jealousy, bickering, and confusion are visible. Quern Dene cult perdere prius dementat.