EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 265, 31 May 1878, Page 15

EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

The men who are now holding the governing power of this colony, and who profess to have the interests of the whole people at heart, and not those of any class, must bestow their attention upon the question of education before long, and place before the people tlie tesult of their deliberations for acceptance or rejection. A ministry constituted like the present one may have immense power to do good, and its influence for evil may be proportionately great. The incipient Stages of its career will therefore "be watched with much anxiety by the upholders of morality and Christian truth. In a Christian land we naturally expect to find Christian statesmen administering its affairs, and subordinating all political interests to that of religion. Religion Is the life-blood of nations, the great sustaining power without which they must necessarily perish from internal corruption, and, heaped with the " scorns of time," be consigned for ever to an ignoble grave. _ The first care of statesmen, therefore, should be the moral and religious interests of the people. But where it is not practicable for governments to directly foster the Christian faith, and to give material assistance for its propagation, they should incontestably protect from undue external assaults, and neither hamper nor openly oppose the progress of its teaching. It is an axiom that "the school makes the man," it must consequently be also true that the Christian school makes the Christian man. Such being the case, it is reasonable to suppose that, if Governments conclude that education is a matter with which it is the legitimate province of the State to deal, they should deal with it not only for the mere transient interests of the State, but for the general welfare of the peoples who live under their laws, and consult for their moral as well as their material greatness. Man's highest interest lies in the eternal destiny that awaits him beyond the grave, and his interests in this world are but passing and momentary. Why, then, should education be thought to consist merely in the acquirement of the secular knowledge which it is contended fits a man to perform his duties as a citizen of the State. There are very few in this colony who own that mere secular instruction constitutes education properly so-called, but it is widely maintained that the duty of the State is to impart only a modicum of secular knowledge, and leave the religious, the most indispensable element, to be taught by the parents themselves. I dissent absolutely from the doctrine which proclaims that the State has any right whatever to usurp the functions of teacher. I admit that the State must look after its own interests, and that it is of paramount interest that its subjects should be instructed in secular knowledge, but to contend thereby that it should monopolise education, and tyrannously wrest from individuals one of their most sacred and inalienable rights, is an insult to our reason as well as to our religious principles. By monopolising education, and being admittedly incapable of imparting religious instruction, the State negatively teaches infidelity. It ia not positively taught in its schools that there is no God, but by a rigorous exclusion of everything that could convey to the child's mind the existence of such a Being, materialism is as certainly inculcated as if the theory of evolution formed part of the curriculum. Where, therefore, the State forcibly inflicts the secular system upon a community, and by the power of gold attempts to crush schools wherein a real and true education is imparted, it is wielding the sword of Lucifer against the religion of Jesus, and sapping the foundations upon which its own stability depends. The great and fatal mistake made by Governments is that they assume the duties of the teacher. Few will question the right of the State to require that its subjects shall be secularly instructed, but the matter assumes a very different aspect when it is asserted that therefore the State should don the garb of the schoolmaster, and engage directly in the work of teaching. By doing this, it would be manifestly usurping duties not its own, and outraging the consciences of thousands of its subjects. Secularists say the Government cannot teach religion on account of the multiplicity of sects, and as it is its duty to teach secular knowledge, how can that be done without offending any religious sensibilities, except the Government establish schools of its own, whence all religions shall ba excluded. I answer, by assisting all schools pro rata, which give a competent secular education. But, they answer, the denominations would then move heaven and earth to maintain schools of their own for the purpose of getting the Government subsidy. Well, I reply, the Government would be proportionately relieved of an onerous work which it can never satisfactorily perform, and the strain upon the coffers of the Treasury would be incalculably diminished, And this brings me to another phase of the question, the financial one. The Government of New Zealand confessedly is in difficulties ; it is continually borrowing, even to carry on tbe ordinary duties of administration, and now it has monopolised the gigantic work of education, whose calls upon the Treasury will be loud and incessant. Well, would it not be policy at least for the Government to get a portion of that work done which it cannot afford to do perfectly itself at, say, half the amount of its real cost, provided, moreover that every guarantee were given that it should be efficiently performed, and that it rested with the Government itself to decide whether it was or was not. The* policy of the last administration was to throw as many responsibilities as possible directly upon the people, to assist voluntary effort in. performing many of the duties of the State. Witness for.instance the Charitable Institutions Act. This policy was forced upon them by the poverty of the exchequer. Since they have left office, no extraordinary increase I believe has taken place in the revenue, and the country is certainly not very much richer than it was then. Now, why cannot Sir George Grey"s Government, whose avowed policy is one of retrenchment, bestow some consideration upon what they might save by assisting large communities to erect and maintain schools of their own. I regret that I have no* n.w at hand a speech delivered in the House of Lords about a year ago by a member of the British Ministry, which contained statistics of the relative cost to the Government of " Board " schools and schools attached to religious denominations, and also remarks as to the educational standard of each. The facts were amazing and established cleanly the success of the English system and showed an immense pecuniary gain to the Go-

vernment by assisting efficient piivate schools. I hope that if argument and appeals to the religious feelings of ministers will not influence them to give the Catholics of the colony justice in the matter of education, the interests cf their breeches pockets may to some extent prevail. The - ondon Times, in an article on intermediate education in Ireland, in its issue of February loth last, says : " As a matter of principle no one "would contend that Eoman Catholics ought to be forced into schools conducted upon a system which their Church has condemned." But what would the Times think were it to know that our New Zealand secularists are " forcing " them by every possible expedient into godless schools which will yet be branded with undying infamy. The question' has now been plainly stated. Politicians understand it. Roman Catholics will never surrender their convictions in this matter ; their allegiance is pledged to their consciences, their Church and their God. No species of coercion will compel them to countenance a system inaugurated for the soul's destruction and the annihilation of national morals ; and if, through the supineness of other religious associations secularism shall obtain a foothold in the colony, New Zealand, now rising like a young and stately oak tree from a congenial soil, will be withered and blasted ere many generations by the insidious poison now being poured at its roots, and the convulsions of a lawless and corrupt people. W.J.N. Auckland, May 9th, 1878.