THE DUNEDIN CANDIDATES ON EDUCATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 332, 29 August 1879, Page 15

THE DUNEDIN CANDIDATES ON EDUCATION.

(Morning Herald report.) MR. DICK. As they knew, he was an old Otago settler. He had been here 22 years, and during most of that time they had a clause in their Education Ordinance which authorised the reading of the Bible in schools, and which, of course gave parents the right of keeping away their children if they pleased during the time the Bible was read. He continued to support that view of the matter. The clause -worked well in Otago all the time it was in existence. There seemed to be no jarring and no objection — at least, he scarcely heard of any objection to that clause during all the time it was in operation. He belonged to a Protestant country which had, during the last 200 years, by the teaching to a great extent of the Bible, taken the foremost placa in civil and religious liberty throughout the whole world. — (Cheers.) They could point to their native land and say that since the days of Cromwell — that brave old Puritan who stood by the Bible in its entirety and defended it with might and main — civil and religious liberty had been the rule of their country, and that no country in the world could stand beside them for the freedom, both religious and civil, which was granted to all those who came under the broad flag of old England.— (Cheers). They ought to stand to a certain extent by the position that the Bible was the Book of all Books, which ought to guide not only rulers, but people. If they had the Bible as the rule of their administration — if their legislators would go more by that book than they had gone — they would have less log-rolling, lesa unfairness, less injustice to one another and to the different districts which were represented, and they would have kingß ruling and princes dealing justice in a way which would make this country noble, independent, and free and great beyond most other States of the world. He would not for one moment coerce anyone into the acceptance of the Bible ; he would not force any man to take it ; he would simply put that book where it had been put by their nation as the rule of the country, the basis of their laws, and the authority upon which they ought to act. He could not accept the idea that children could be thoroughly educated without knowing something of that book. He would not allow anyone to interfere in the way of explaining or trying to put his own peculiar view upon it, but he would have the Bible placed in their schools as a protest that they believed in that Book. He did not know why there should be such a cry as that they should not have the Bible in their schools. They had it everywhere else. If they went into a Court of Justice they had to swear on the Bible ; but if their children were taught to know nothing of the Bible, how were they to swear upon it? If a little urchin stole a piece of wood, and was committed to the Industrial School, the Magistrate had to say what religious profession he Bhould be brought up in. In the General Assembly the Houses were opened every day with prayer. It was not ignored there. He did not think it was wise — he did not think it was to the true interest of the colony — he thought it would be an injustice to the young — to keep the Bible out of their schools. MB. MACASSEY. With reference to the question of education, they bad heard his views upon it long since, and he would state his views at greater length at a future meeting. They had heard him described as a Denominationalist, and all sorts of views had been put before them on which he would not now dwell. But he wished them to distinctly understand that, whatever his individual views were— and he saw no reason to change them — he was quite content, aa he had already stated to a deputation, to give the system already established a fair trial. He was asked the question what he meant by " a fair trial," and he was told in polite enough terms, certainly, that his answer was not very intelligible. Now, what he meant was that so long aa the

Government brought down an annual vote in aid of the system of instruction established by law, he would not only not oppose that vote, but would give it his support. (Cheers.) He had stated before, and he repeated, that whatever his individual opinions were upon the subject of assisting schools entirely outside the State establishment, he had no wish to interfere with the Schools which now existed. He recognised that in every community the minority must give way to the^ majority until, at all events, they converted themselves into a majority. He sincerely hoped that the electors would not allow themselves to be led away upon this point, as the real question before them was as to whether or not the Government of the day had their confidence, MB. OLIVER. He expressed his views on the Education question last year, and they were unchanged. They ought not to interfere with the present system. He would allow ministers of the various denominations access to the children at certain specified hours for the purpose of imparting religious instruction. He was not in favour of the Bible being read in the schools. However, if all the religious denominations of the country agreed to the Bible being read or to certain portions of it, he would have no objection.