_SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND._
I must not lay down my pen without saying something about the New
Zealand educational system, one of the best features in our colonial
government, though possessing undoubtedly its faults.
The educational course is divided into three grades, viz., the
elementary or public schools, the secondary or high schools, and
finally the university. For the two latter, fees have to be paid,
unless the scholar is clever and lucky enough to obtain a scholarship,
in which case he or she can go through the whole course without any
expense to the parents.
In regard to securing a scholarship, however, besides ability
being necessary on the part of the pupil, a good deal depends on
the capability of the teacher at the elementary school. This is an
uncertain element, and constitutes, to my thinking, a flaw in the
educational system. Teachers at the elementary schools are supposed to
pass examinations, and receive certificates of competency, but in the
small up-country districts, teachers are often placed in charge who are
not certificated, but are what are termed probationers. It is true that
in each school-district, a committee is elected by the inhabitants,
whose duty it is to attend to matters connected with the school and
the teacher, and to report all irregularities to the head school board
in Auckland. Very often, however, the members of these committees are
uneducated men, sometimes even being unable to read or write, and it
may be imagined that they are not held in much awe by the teacher, who
does in such cases pretty well as he or she likes. Also, as the salary
of the teacher is regulated by the average number of children attending
the school, a good competent man naturally objects to a small district,
and the consequence is, that the children in the country are not so
well educated as the children in large towns.
This is a serious flaw in the working of the education scheme, but it
is one that might possibly be overcome by the institution of Government
boarding-houses in towns like Auckland, where the children of country
people who cannot afford to pay for private tuition, but who wish their
little ones to be as well educated as possible, might be lodged at cost
price by the Government. Another flaw, to my mind, in the system, is
not allowing the Bible to be read in the schools, the result being that
many children are allowed to grow up without any knowledge of their
God or their Saviour, their parents naturally inferring that if it is
considered unnecessary and unwise to teach Bible truths in the schools,
there can be no necessity to teach them at home, even if they are able
to, which in many cases they are not. Freethought and Deism has taken
strong root in the province of Auckland, and I think the cause may
probably be traced to the expulsion of the Bible from the New Zealand
Government schools.
To counteract the evil effects of this blot in our educational system,
we have our Church of England parsons, our Roman Catholic priests, and
Wesleyan and Dissenting ministers of various denominations. In this
district we are very fortunate in our Church of England parson, who
is not only a gentleman, but is a conscientious and energetic man, as
well as an agreeable and amusing companion. He has an immense deal
of riding to get through, as his district is a very extensive one,
containing about 800 square miles, and in the winter, when some of the
roads are knee-deep in mud, his experiences must be at times terrible.
He wears the orthodox dog collar, a clerical cut coat, riding trousers,
and top-boots with the tops off, and thus accoutred, he travels
about regardless of the weather, and unremitting in his endeavour to
counteract evil, in whatever shape or form he meets it. He does not
always spare himself time even to get his hair cut properly, for not
long ago I saw him seated on a gentleman's verandah with a sack over
his shoulders, while his friend, the owner of the house, was shearing
him with a pair of sheep shears.
While we are thus happily provided with regard to our souls, our bodily
welfare is not neglected, and our local doctor--a genial son of Erin,
and a great favourite on all sides--rivals the parson in tending to our
wants connected with his department. He also has an immense amount of
riding to do, and is as much at home in the pigskin as some men are in
their easy chairs. A forty-mile ride to see a patient he regards as a
little holiday, and pulls up smiling at the finish. He is married, and
in that respect scores against our parson. He is fond of sport, keeps
his own hacks, a couple of racers, his double-barrelled central fire,
and a brace of setters. He sings a good song (hunting ones are his
favourites), is clever at his profession and attentive to his patients,
and, in short, is what is known as a good all round man. I think I am
therefore entitled to say that the North Kaipara settler, both body and
soul, is in good hands.
The parson and the doctor are the two busiest professional men in
this part of the world, although the doctor's practice is principally
confined to accidents and additions to families. The Auckland lawyers
perhaps have a fairish share of work at times, in connection with North
Kaiparians, but engineers, to use a colonialism, have not a "show" at
all--particularly now that the borrowing policy has been partially
given up.