1 428 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



free primary instruction of a secular character to all children taught in the State 

 schools, and prescribes a certain standard of attainment for all children whether so 

 schooled by the State or not. In Queensland, the Act of 1875 regulates the educational 

 interest. Among the first Enactments of the Legislature after the separation from New 

 South Wales, were an Act to provide for primary education and an Act to provide for 

 the establishment of grammar schools, both of which received the Royal Assent in 1860. 

 Under the former a Board of General Education, under the Chairmanship of a Minister 

 of the Crown, was called into existence to superintend the primary school system of the 

 colony. The Act did away with future State aid to denominational education, but this 

 provision was so earnestly argued that the regulation was soon after relaxed so as not 

 to exclude denominational schools established subsequent to the passing of the Act. At 

 the beginning of January, 1870, public education was made free of charge in all the 

 primary schools of the State. In 1874, a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire 

 into the working of the educational system, and in the following year the present Act 

 was passed by Sir Samuel Griffith, constituting education secular, compulsory and free. 

 In South Australia, the system first adopted was that of payment by results. The 

 Churches had begun to establish schools before the State thought of interfering, and 

 when it entered the field, it did so simply to supply what was deficient in the labours 

 of the Churches ; in other words, it offered payment for results. Schools containing a 

 certain number of children, and where ' the teaching was reported to be up to a certain 

 grade, were proportionately subsidized. After six years of experiment, however, it was 

 found that under this system the colony was drifting behind its neighbours, and that if 

 the State was to do anything effective in the way of education it must do something more 

 than merely inspect and subsidize ; and accordingly a system in which the State acted 

 more directly in the maintenance of schools was substituted. In Western Australia, the 

 elementary Education Act now in force was passed in 1871. It is administered by a Cen- 

 tral Board, aided by District Boards elected by the franchise-exercising population. The 

 Act acknowledges Government schools, which are undenominational, and assisted schools, 

 which may be conducted by any religious body. In the State schools the education is 

 secular, but not free. In Tasmania, the Education Act of 1886 regulates the system of 

 State instruction. It is administered by the Minister of Education, and the instruction 

 given is purely secular. Attendance is compulsory on three days out of the week, and 

 fixed fees are charged. In New Zealand, definite recognition of the duty of the State 

 with regard to the instruction of the people dates from the establishment of the Provinces 

 in 1853. From that time until the abolition of the provincial form of Government at 

 the end of 1876, it was left to each Province to fix its own system of public instruc- 

 tion. One of the first Acts of the General Assembly after that date was to make 

 temporary provision for carrying on this work until a Measure adapted to the general 

 wants of the people could be passed. This was clone in 1877, when a Bill was put 

 through which provided for a Department of Education under a responsible Minister. 



It will thus be seen that one of the principal objects to which the Australian 

 colonies devoted their attention since the introduction of Responsible Government has 

 been the public instruction of the children of the people. For some years the interest 

 in public education remained at a low ebb. Even in the centres of population, while 



