The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-06-08

man urged by way Of complaint againS
the Government. He (Mr Dole) was &c
cusing Ministers OF 4 constitutional fdling
which was said to be peculiar to himself
The honorable member. Mr. Castle. hat
moved a reference OF the items t. a select
committee, and he (Mr Gibson) was not
disposed TO object 10 the suggestion. That
honorable gentleman, he believed, took an
interest in private educational institutions
which be thought should receive Govern
ment aid, and it was a proper subject OF
reference to a committee whether such aid
should be granted. Another hon. mem
/ Der made complaints regarding the schools
/ in his district. and he tAlr Gibson) was
/ not prepared TO deny that there was a great
I deal OF force in what had been urged; but
( the House must remember that the Board
I OF Education was in great measure in the
hands of the school agents, who may some
times fail to report upon allpoint~. It was
/ the desire of the Board. however, 10 remedy
/ all defects reported to them as soon as
possible. The honorable member fer Ko-
hala. Dr. Wight, had called attention
to the valuable advice given to the Board
of Education by missionaries in the past
and suggested that il would be well if the
existing Board were to be guided 10y SINH
lar advice He could assure the honorable
gentleman that he fully recognized the
value of this advice, and to show that the
Board OF Education still profted by it he
would mention the fact that among the
school agents of the Board were Rev. Mr..
Smith, Rev. Mr. Lyons and Rev Mr..
Lynans, each of whom belong to the mis-
sionary body, and who were aiding the
Board in carrying out the work of educa-
ton on these Islands 1t was not to be
supposed, therefore, that the present
Board of Education would hesitate to ac-
cept advice from that quarter. Another
honorable member suggested in debate,
that it should be made compulsory that
every boy and girl in the Kingdom should
read and write. That was possible of ac-
cOmphShment few years ago, when the
Board of Education had to deal with
compact native race. The percentage of
illiteraCy was then lower than in any other
country but OF late years there had been a
large influx of Portuguese immigrants,
together with some japanese and other
children, and the educational demands
upon the Board had greatly increased.
The percentage of illiteracy had increased
also, but the Hawaiian Kingdom should
not be expected, with its limited means, to
accomplish more in the way of education
than had been accomplished by such great,
progressive and intelligent nations as the
United States of America, England and
Germany. Compare the statistics of illit-
eracy in those countries and in Hawaii,
and the comparison would rebound to the
honor of this little State, which had done
50 much to promote education. Another
point had been raised regarding the
pay of teachers and an impression
might be gathered from what had
been said that there had been
an unfair discrimination in the pay of
teachers. This was not the ease. Ger
tainly there was no discriminating by the
present Board of Education against Hawa-
ian teachers; but Hawaiian parents
clearly saw the utility of teaching their
children the English language, without a
knowledge of which they would be unable
to avail themselves of many advantages in
their own country or abroad. An exper-
fenced English teacher, therefore, might be
rendering more valuable service inStructing
thirty or forty-chiIdren than another
teacher who had one hundred children I'M
der his charge learning Hawaiian For
himself, he Mr., Gibson) desired to preserve
the Hawaiian language which was the
most perfect and copious of the Poly
nesian dialects, but whether it should be by
founding a professorship of Hawaiian
literature or not was not clear to him. But
like other languages-the Welsh and Swiss
it was gliding away, and should be pre-
served, either in literature or otherwise for
the benefit of philologis.s in the future.
The English tongue, however, was super
cedmg it, and would be the language
spoken ultimately throughout the Pacific.
But his hope and desire was that the Ha-
waiian Islands should remain an indie
pendent Kingdom, whatever might be the
language of the people, After a few
general remarks on the question before
the Committee his Excellency resumed
his seat.
Hon. Mr.. Bishop said that quite num-
Der of petitions had been referred to the
Education Committee. He had intended
that morning to have presented a report
on some of them. 1t was impossible for
the committee to say whether their prayer
should be granted, and he would therefoFe''
lay them on the table to be dealt with byH
the committee 1t had been suggested
during The discussion that a committee of
thirteen be appointed to consider the ex-
penditure of the vote, but that idea was
entirely impracticable. The matter must be
left to the Board of Education. If the
Board does not look after the schools and
school houses in those districts where com (
plants are made, the people should make
it known and give them no peace until
their wants are complied with or some
good reason given, Whether there had
been any unfair discrimination in salaries
he did not know. In the main the Board
of Education had tried To carry on the
business of the schools in a proper manner.
He could see no advantage in referring the
matter to committee, and should vote
against it.
Mr.. Aholo was not in favor of referring
the matter to a committee, or uniting the
two items He agreed with Mr. Bishop
that a committee could not report in a
proper manner as to the expenditure
There was no necessity to refer the item of
800 900 for English and Hawaiian schools
to a committee and no necessity to increase
it. Private schools could be considered