ECONOMY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 11, 6 July 1888, Page 17

ECONOMY.

JB^23t HE Government affirm that they have economised fIN; to the amount of £233,000. We believe the ajD^V? statement, as we are bound to do; but where and how this retrenchment has been effected has not jj^ti yet appeared. The Estimates have not been jflj^* filly considered and approved, and until these are settled, we mean both ordinary and supplementary listimaties, the public is in the dark. Bit the efforts of the Government are not considered all they should be, a greater amount of economy is demanded by a ▼fry larga party. This party, however, look for the retrenchment they desire to the lowering of salaries of the public officials, but seem to overlook the one great cause of all our financial trombles, and the one department in which, above all others, economy should be enforced. For this reason we doubt the sincerity of the would-be economists, and are convinced that hardly anything will be done to relieve the country. It is taken for granted that free education for the children of well-to-do people is to remain a burden on all classes and all persons in the community. Thiß is folij in the extreme. The country is being ruined by this unwise proceeding. This system has already been the cause of saddling the country with a debt of five or six millions, which involves an expenditure of £300,000 a year for interest, and must inevitably involve it in a much larger debt and annual expenditure. And for what ? That the children of Wtll-t«Mio people shall receive, for thb moat y%fi §i the

pub.'ic expense, such an education as will fit them for professions which are already over-crowded, and for petty chril situations which take away our youth from engaging in reproductive pursuits. The working man, as he is facetiously termed, is befooled by the knowing ones, who tell him it is a grent thing to have his children educated side by side with the children of the higher classes without having to pay fees. But, we may ask, how many of the children of the working men enter the University, graduate, or gain admittance even into the Civil Service ? Where, then, is the advantage of the present system for them ? A system whioh mainly helps those who do not 6tand in need of help, and leaves the others in the lurch. No ; until the present system of education is reformed, and no more than £100,000 per annum is spent in public education, there will be no economy of any use in the public finances of this country. In the Gape of Good Hope there is a system of education under whioh as many children are educated as there are here, and as well, and all this system costs the Government is £100,000 a year. Why could not such a system be introduced into tkis country ? It is absurd in our legislators to bounce as they do about retrenchment whilst at the same time overlooking the real cause of the evil and the almost only source of economy. The great majority of the people of this country are able to pay for the education of their children, and we believe 1 ,- are willing to do so, and willing at the same time to afford substantial aid to indigent parents to educate their children. Why does not Government avail itself of these dispositions of 4he pt'ople, and put an end to an unnecessary, unjust, "and ruinously expensive system which is opposed to common sense as well as policy ? All efforts made to effect real economy, whilst this system of education is permittedJto exist, will and must prove abortive. This country cannot j afford to spend half a million a year on a thing so unwise and absurd. There is really no necessity whatever for this •ystem, real education is not promoted by it, whilst the injurious effects flowing from it, both to the community and individuals, are patent. Nevertheless, it appears that this running sore is not to be healed ; that not even an attempt is to be made to heal it, and consequently all efforts to balance the public receipts and expenditure are in vain. Not even will additional taxation remedy the evil, inasmuch as at the end of the present financial year it will be found that the revenue has steadily diminished. It is sad, therefore, to read the proceedings in Parliament and learn from them that hardly anything is or has been done to set our political affaire in order.