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Education in New Zealand—School
buildings—Opinion of a high authority—The order of
educational arrangements—Professor Black's mining lectures—Scheme for
instruction to miners—Technical education—Political
parasites.
To turn now more
to the social than the physical features of the colony.
After the neatness and numbers of the churches, perhaps
the next thing that most strikes a reflective observer is
the attention that is paid to education, as exemplified in the
number of schools, colleges, seminaries, and other
educational buildings one meets. Although possessing a considerably more
rigorous and mutable climate than New South Wales, the
school buildings, as a rule, are not nearly so pretentious and
expensive in New Zealand as they are in the former
colony. This one fact alone speaks well for the practical
nature of the people. In New South Wales enormous sums of
money have been needlessly spent in erecting stone
buildings far in advance of the requirements of the times.
The schools are mostly built of wood in country districts
in New Zealand. They are comfortable and neat. The
children generally are taught together in class on the
floor; but in the benches and at the desks the boys occupy
one side of the school and the girls the other. The school
furniture is fully up to modern requirements. All the
teachers I met— and I tried to get speech of as many as I
could— were very intelligent, and possessed of
considerable esprit de corps. In such cities as
Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, &c., the high schools
were indeed quite palatial looking, and some of the
private educational institutions were not more
admirable in their interior arrangements for the comfort
and health of the pupils, than imposing externally from an architectural
point of view.
I had the
privilege and good fortune to meet some of the highest and
most honoured authorities on educational subjects in the
colony. I found a very generally expressed opinion that
the existing system errs on the side of liberality. The
burden of the educational impost presses heavier on the
people every year. In fact, free education is felt by
many now to have been a political blunder. It was
never wanted. In the bitter outcry against sectarian
teaching on the part of large masses, the advocates of
free education stole a march, and succeeded in getting
their whole programme of free, secular, and compulsory
education swallowed entire, like a bolus. Many now think
that the giving up of the revenue derived from fees was a
useless, nay, a harmful surrender. What costs
nothing, say they, is generally not valued much by the
recipient, and anything which tends to sap the citadel of
personal responsibility and individual independence is bad
for the self-reliance of the citizen.
" In Dunedin,"
as a venerable and learned friend put it to me, "In
Dunedin, no one objected to school fees. There were only a
very few poor widows who could not afford to pay ; and
provision was always made for the children of such,
without any one being any the wiser. The old instincts of
Scottish independence revolted at the thought of
parental responsibility being shirked in the matter of the
education of their children. It was held as an article of
faith by the majority, that it was as incumbent on a
parent to provide food for the growth and development and
nourishment of the child's mind as for his body. The
result of free education by the State is," pursued my
friend, ,f very much to beget a feeling of entire
indifference on the subject on the part of many, and a
general weakening of the sense of parental responsibility
almost along the whole line." I try to reproduce
our exact conversation. Said I, "But you would have
education compulsory?" "Undoubtedly ; but if parents
complied with the requirements of the law in respect of
attainments, and were willing to pay out of their own
pockets direct, why should they be forced to make their
children attend this or that school, or submit them to the
tuition of this or that teacher? That I think an unwise
and an unnecessary compulsion. I do not wonder at
one section of the community kicking against such a
sweeping and arbitrary enactment. It savours of
persecution, and I would resent it myself."
"But does it not
ensure greater economy in working, and greater efficiency,
and better results to have a compulsory State system?
Would not the latitude you advocate tend to the
multiplication of sectarian and denominational schools?"
"What has that
to do with the justice of the case? But I do not think it
would. The Free Church of Scotland had hundreds of
schools, and she was very glad, indeed, to hand them over
to the school boards. They had always been a heavy
burden, the bearing of which had fallen almost
exclusively on the minister, who had already too much to
attend to, if he was really to carry on his own peculiar
pastoral work, and attend to his public ministrations with
any degree of acceptance and success. The consequences
have been all for good, in the case of the Free Church of
Scotland, and I do not think that, with the exception of
the Roman Catholic Church, and possibly a section
of the Anglican, any movement in the direction of having
schools separate from the State schools will ever be made
here."
"But would not
the secularists object?"
"What matter if
they did? I do not think that secularism is so strong as
some people would like to make out. There is a distinct
reaction against it here in this community." (We were
speaking of Dunedin at the time.) "The feeling that
I am glad to say is gaining strength amongst us is, that
the Bible should be read in all the public schools. I
would apply the principle of local option to Bible
teaching, as to whisky selling. If the majority of the people in a country
town—we will say Balclutha, for instance,—wished to have the Bible taught in
their schools, why should the veto of Dunedin prevent it, and vice versa ?
Of course, to obviate individual hardships, any child might have exemption
from attendance on the Bible classes under a conscience clause."
"But suppose the
Catholics and Anglicans did set up separate schools, would
they not demand a share of the proceeds of the education
cess, as a result of your proposed modifications?"
"Well, and they
might have it! I would allow," said my reverend old
friend, "I would allow a capitation grant from the general
revenue, conditional on the child passing the secular standard
established by the Government educational department. In Canada
there is an education rate, and Catholics are there
allowed to pay over their rates to their own schools,
whether high or elementary. All are, of course, inspected and
examined by the Government officials, only the
Government does not examine in religious teaching. This
has worked admirably there, and is the best and fairest
compromise that could be made between the advocates of
purely secular teaching on the one hand, and
denominationalism on the other."
I give this conversation as being the boldly-
expressed opinions of a representative man. I found they were shared by
the majority of the intelligent colonists I spoke to on the subject.
There was evidently in Otago and Canterbury a reaction against
secularism pure and simple, and the advocates of Bible teaching in
schools would in my opinion poll an immense majority if it came to a
vote.
The order of
educational arrangements is briefly thus :—
The first
step is the primary school. These primary schools are
thickly scattered over the length and breadth of the
land. Attached to every school is a glebe and house
for the teacher. A system of what is called provincial
scholarships is in force—so many for juniors and so
many for seniors. These are open to the youth of both
sexes, and are tenable for three years. They
ensure the holder free education, either in a district
high school or in such high schools as those of
Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Timaru, &c. In
fact, all the principal towns boast of their high
school.
In the "Otago
boys and girls high schools Dunedin," for instance,
there are more than fifty resident pupils getting free
education, who either hold provincial scholarships, or
who, in the competition for these, have made fifty per cent, or
over of the necessary marks. This, surely, is a
liberal arrangement.
Some high
schools again have a higher grade of scholarships;
these are tenable for three years also, are of the
value of 40/. per annum, and the holders must take the
arts course in the University of Otago. This
University itself also offers two scholarships of
similar value and condition.
The New
Zealand University, which is merely an examining body,
offers also every year about a dozen junior, and about
half that number of senior scholarships. These are
open to the whole colony. There are also exhibitions
and scholarships founded by wealthy and patriotic patrons of
learning, and the Otago University has at least
one nomination for a military cadetship, at the Royal
Military College at Sandhurst.
The
scholarships of the University of Otago'are of three
kinds: The Junior, of the annual value of 45/.; the
Medical Scholarships, annual value 100/.; and the
Senior, which are fixed each year by the Senate at its
annual meeting. There are also money and book prizes
for best essays, and other inducements to aspirants
after academic distinctions. Altogether, the endowments and
encouragements to students are on the most liberal
and praiseworthy scale.
There has
also been good organization among the teachers and
professors, for mutual improvement. During the last seven years it has
been the custom for the professors in Dunedin, to give
Saturday lectures in turns, for a few months every
year, to school teachers solely. The response by
the teachers has been most cheering. Hundreds
come down every Saturday during the course, from a
radius of eighty miles from the city. The teachers pay
a guinea to the Government for their ticket, which
entitles them to admission to the lectures, and their
railway carriage to and fro. A most liberal
concession! The movement, three years ago, extended to
Christchurch, and is now a fixed institution there,
and it is now being started in Wellington.
It would be
well if some such admirable custom could be
inaugurated in connection with our splendid Sydney
University.
This is not
the only evidence of the practical good sense and
energy which the educational bodies in New Zealand
bring to bear on their work.
Last year
the Otago University Council, recognizing the need of practical
instruction in many departments of industry outside
the academic walls as well as inside, tried the
experiment of sending Professor Black to the mining
centres to lecture'to the miners, and the result was a
pronounced success. The subject is of such practical
importance to communities such as ours, in a young
country where minerals are of such frequent
occurrence, that I make no apology for transcribing copiously from
Professor Black's report.
The
professor first of all went to the mining centres on
the West Coast, where there are extensive gold-fields. There he says:
"I delivered
forty-four lectures at fifteen different places, and established
testing classes at nine centres. The attendance at the
classes was very satisfactory, many miners in several
districts taking a holiday during my visit, so as to
avail themselves more fully of the testing classes.
"At
Boatman's, near Reefton, I was joined by Mr. Alex. Montgomery, M.A. of
this University (Otago), on March 14th, and during the
remainder of the tour he was of the greatest
assistance to me, taking an active part in every
department of the work. Mr. Montgomery also delivered
lectures on 'Geology, Mineral Veins, Faults,' &c., in
Grey- mouth, Kumara, Hokitika, and Ross, and visited
the coal-mines at Koranui, Coalbrookdale, and
Brunner, as well as several of the largest quartz reef
mines at Reefton, Boatman's, and Lyell. Mr.
Montgomery's lectures, like my own, were very well
received everywhere, and a strong desire was expressed
in many quarters that he should be available for
carrying on this kind of teaching in the district. The
subjects of my lectures were the following: —1. How
quartz reefs were formed. 2. How gold came into the
reefs. 3, 4, and 5. The chemistry of gold. 6. The
extraction of gold from quartz. 7. The chlorine
process for extracting gold. 8. Sodium amalgam, and its use in
saving gold. 9. The amalgamation of copper
plates, and the removal of gold from them. 10. The
analysis and assay of gold-bearing stone. 11. The ores
and metallurgy of silver, lead, tin, copper, antimony,
zinc, mercury. 12. The chemistry of sheelite, &c.
"In the
testing classes the students themselves went through
the processes for testing metallic ores containing the
metals named above, Mr. Montgomery having charge of
the blowpipe processes, whilst I directed the wet chemical operations.
"In the more
important centres, when the miners were beginning to
see how simple and practical were the methods of
testing ores, they began to form themselves into clubs
(subscribing usually il. each) 'to procure the
appliances necessary for carrying on the testing of
ores after my departure. Before the end of April ten
of these clubs were in existence, with their chairmen and
secretaries, and funds subscribed, with a membership
ranging from thirteen to thirty- five each, total
membership about 200. At two other places, clubs were
being formed when I was just leaving the coast. The
following are the centres where clubs are now in
existence:— Reefton, Boatman's, Lyell, Westport,
Waiman- garoa, Greymouth, Kumara, Hokitika, Ross,
Goldsborough; and in process of formation at
Dillmanstown and Rimu. Public meetings were held in
most of the centres to apply to the Government and the
University of Otago for assistance in the way of
instructors and facilities for procuring appliances at the smallest
cost.
"During my
whole visit I received the warmest support, not only
from the miners and the civic authorities, but also
from the clergymen of all denominations, medical men,
and druggists. The press also very heartily advocated
the movement, and published elaborate reports of the
processes of testing. During my visit to the coast, as
well as to the Otago gold-fields, I was strongly
impressed with the large field open for teaching to
crowds of intelligent men such subjects as geology,
mineralogy, the use of the blowpipe, the chemistry of
minerals, the extraction of metals from their ores.
The men are there thirsting for this kind of knowledge. They at present
present the saddening spectacle of standing together
in clubs, with funds subscribed for procuring
chemicals, books, and apparatus, but with no one left
to teach them the use of these appliances. There was
never a better opportunity offered to any Government,
or University authorities, of providing suitable
means of instruction to so large a number of
earnest students eager to receive it. And no body of
students will make a better or more direct and
immediate use of the instruction provided for them.
"Such
instruction, if liberally provided, will convert very
many of these miners into most intelligent
prospectors, since they will then be able to identify
a valuable ore when they find it (which is not the
case at present). The country will reap a thousandfold
in the development of its wonderful mineral resources any
expenditure judiciously made in this direction.
"It is important that help to these clubs come soon if it
is to come at all. It is much easier to keep them going now than it will be
to resuscitate them again if they are allowed to die for lack of support. I
need not say that it will give myself the greatest pleasure to take an
active part during the summer holidays in carrying on the movement so
auspiciously begun in connection with your 'School of Mines.'"
The Professor
was farther so impressed with the importance of the work
thus auspiciously begun, that he has formulated a scheme
which he forwarded to the Minister of Mines to provide
special instruction in several branches of knowledge on the gold-fields.
The branches of
knowledge embraced in this scheme are as follows:—"1.
Geology, the general subject including modes of occurrence
of useful minerals, prospecting for useful minerals by
boring and otherwise. 2. Ore-dressing, including gold-saving
machines, treatment of auriferous sulphides (sulphides of
iron, copper, antimony, arsenic, &c.), the preparation of
valuable ores for the market. 3. Mineralogy,
including the wet and dry processes for determining minerals, the physical
characters of useful minerals, instruction in the use of
the blowpipe. 4. Metallurgy, including the 'characters,
tests, and mode of occurrence of the ores of gold, silver,
lead, mercury, copper, tin, antimony, iron, zinc,
manganese, and cobalt, and the processes for smelting
these metals or reducing them from their ores. 5. Analysis
and Assaying, including practical instruction in the
processes for assaying metallic ores. In these testing
classes, which I regard as a most valuable part of the
scheme, the students themselves will perform the work
under the direction of the instructors. It is for the prosecution of
this kind of work that the local schools of mines have been formed.
6. Mine-surveying. 7. Mining— These, I think, may, in the
meantime, be provided for by an arrangement with one or
more of the local mining engineers." So much for Dr.
Black's admirable syllabus.
Can any one
doubt that the systematic carrying out of such a scheme as
this would redound immensely to the credit of the Government, and
to the welfare and progress of the mining community?
A Technical
College has, in Sydney, New South Wales, been in existence
for some years, and has of late been launching out upon a
wider sea of enterprise, making tentative efforts in directions somewhat
similar to the foregoing. Such efforts are a healthy sign
of awakening interest in this important work of practical technical
education. They are deserving of the warmest sympathy and
commendation of. every patriotic Australian; and the
itinerary of one such lecturer is worth all the twaddle
and fustian of all the stump politicians and demagoguic
nostrum-mongers who muster thick in Sydney, and who air
their incoherent and in many cases antiquated and exploded
theories with a vehemence and fervour which, if applied to
some honest occupation—say breaking blue metal, for
instance—would make even these wind-bags superior
to all the frowns of fortune. Your political spouter and conference
organizer, however, has a wholesome horror generally of
hard work for himself. The golden gift of eloquence, or
what he mistakably assumes to be its equivalent,
"glibness of gab," is accepted by him as the direct
guerdon of a kind Providence to enable him to live
sumptuously on the proceeds of the hard work of others.
Such men are the parasites of the body politic. |
