232 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE v 



thankful if we get things straight in that 

 time. 



The principle of the Bill introduced, but 

 dropped, by the Government last session, appears 

 to me to be wise, and some of the objections to it I 

 think are due to a misunderstanding. The Bill 

 proposed in substance to allow localities to tax 

 themselves for purposes of technical education 

 on the condition that any scheme for such purpose 

 should be submitted to the Science and Art De- 

 partment, and declared by that department to be 

 in accordance with the intention of the Legis- 

 lature. 



A cry was raised that the Bill proposed to 

 throw technical education into the hands of the 

 Science and Art Department. But, in reality, no 

 power of initiation, nor even of meddling with de- 

 tails, was given to that Department the sole 

 function of which was to decide whether any plan 

 proposed did or did not come within the limits of 

 " technical education." The necessity for such 

 control, somewhere, is obvious. No legislature, 

 certainly not ours, is likely to grant the power of 

 self-taxation without setting limits to that power 

 in some way; and it would neither have been prac- 

 ticable to devise a legal definition of technical edu- 

 cation, nor commendable to leave the question to 

 the Auditor-General, to be fought out in the law- 

 courts. The only alternative was to leave the de- 

 cision to an appropriate State authority. If it is 



