THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1900. MANUAL AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 41, 11 October 1900, Page 16

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1900. MANUAL AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION.

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♦■ 11. MEREDITH, the Member for Ashley, speaking on the motion for the second reading ol the Torhniral Education Bill, introduced by Mr. Si;i)uo\, \oieed the general apprehension of the secularists as to the risilit honomble gentleman having some dire in' tuL to s.ip the sacred principle of irreligious education which is held unfortunately by po many people to be the corner-stone of tho established system, and under which, conditions are coming about which may well be viewed with alarm by those who re'id, with intelligent regard, the signs of the times. The Estimates for the current year show the proposed expenditure upon the public primary schools alone of £41 ;>,."> 10, and for this enormous sum very little instruction, beyond the mere rudiments, is given to a large majority of

the children. Closely protected from competition, State education in New Zealand, like all protected articles, is, there is reason to believe, extravagantly costly as well as defective in quality, and there is difficulty in understanding how a remarkably practical community fail to realise that this is the rase, and that the old proveib 'a little learning is a dangerous thing' has special application to the future citizens trained — if the woid can be aptly used — in the publi; schools of New Z aland We are not now taking the ground of the total absence ot religious teaching, in rtg >rd to which, our op'P.ion 5 '"' f> v^ <*-<*r"f, hnt- w<> m^'tithat the secular instruction, which is vaunted to be so perfect, is \ery much of a failure, ignoiing altogether most important subject-*, and by no means tending to the intellectual dev> lopment of the pupils and the independent exercise of their natural faculties. It is indeed significant that alter the lapse of all these years since the Education Act was pissed, and the continual flourish of trumpets over the brilliantly successful results, the Premier of the Colony should consider it to be his duty to bring down a Bill (we quote the title) 'To make better provision for manual, technical, and commercial education.' With his practical sagacity the right honorable gentleman has ever since he has been in his highly rtsponsible position recognised the more glaring defects of the estiblished educational system and its inefficiency for the intended purposes, and has endeavoied to remedy this so far as to make provisions for the manual and technical instruction of the youth of the Colony.

Because, however, he refused to exclude from the benefits of such provision children attending other than State Schools, he has been subject to bitter opposition, up to the presenttime been defeated in hisefforts, and no comprehensive measure of reform has been effected. The Minister for Education in his last report remarks with regret that nothing has been done in the matter. It is not, he says, in the improvement of manual processes 'alone that the general introduction of manual and technical training would produce good results but in the gradual recasting of the whJe educational system that it would involve — in the more complete adjustment of our intellectual and practical life to our actual environment, which an enlightened scheme of this kind would certainly bring about.'

In moving the second reading of the Bill, the Premier confined himself to briefly explaining the more important operative provisions, and wasatonceattacked, as noted above, by Mr. MERhDiTH, who, with dramatic fervor, expressed his conviction that 'the terrors of denomin.uionalism linked under the harmless-looking clauses,' and declared himself the uncompromising enemy of any proposal to subsidise instruction of any kind given in oilier than the Slate schools. In replying ou the debate as a whole, Mr. m;udon took the member for \shley sharply to task for the narrowminded illiberality of his view*, tauntinsr him also with the conspicuous ignorance he had displayed as to the circumstances If, said the Premier, they were to depend upon the Education Boards for technical instruction, they would have none at all except in the schools at Wangauui and Wellington. He intended, he said, to put the Bill on the Statute- Book this session in spite of the obstinate opposition of certain members.

In the form in which it has passed the House of .Representatives, the Bill practically precludes Catholic schools from advantages under its provisions. The crux of the measure is that ' ovory controlling authority of classes under this Act (not beiu<j school cl.issx.^) shall be entitled to receive, by way of capitation, payment out of the pubi o funds in respect of the attendance of pupils' at classes for manual instruction, technical instruction, or at continuation classes. ' Controlling authority' is defined to mean the Education Board or the governing body of a secondary school and of a university college ; and k secondary school ' means a secondary school named in Part I. of the first schedule to the Bill. ' University College' means a college affiliated to the University of New Zealand, and named in Part 11. of the same schedule. Neither part of this schedule contains the name of a Catholic educational institution. \N c have consequently no concern with or interest in the details of the measure beyond in so far that it purports to remedy a striking defect in the State educational system.