Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/303

Rh small private schools exist, a few of our own, and a fair number maintained by the Roman Church. In many ways this National system is excellent, but its defects are serious. It is entirely secular; no religious teaching permitted within school hours. It seems to have been thought by its promoters that the only way to avoid religious controversy was to shut the door of all schools, excluding even the simplest use of the Bible. It seems incredible that, in pursuance of this plan, the Senate of the University, in a young country which prides itself on providing liberal opportunities to the rising generation of all that education really means, should actually exclude from its course of study the teaching of History, ancient or modern. Yet so it is. Surely, at some future date all this will be found to be a grave mistake.

At the same time I have always done all I could in the cause of education, and of late have accepted the post of Chairman of the Board of Governors of our High School in Timaru, for South Canterbury. The Board possesses a good deal of land, which provides a good income. This means much business in addition to the ordinary affairs of the school, which includes girls as well as boys. My task has not always been an easy one; not, perhaps, an unusual experience in the management of any school; ructions have been frequent, but we have managed to straighten out things, and the School is prospering.

As a recreation, I have for some time time past dabbled in astronomy, physical astronomy, I should say, as I am no mathematician. I began it in Westland with a small telescope, about the time of the Transit of Venus in 1874. With the help of an old friend there, J. O'Connor, a clever Engineer and