dormant for any length of time—their capacity for
development disappears after a time, and thus that
which it has cost so much to learn is entirely lost;
and so it is that the withdrawal, even for a short
time, of the whole or a part of the grant, by causing
some Schools to be closed, or by depriving some
scholars of the opportunities for prosecuting their
studies previously enjoyed by them, would be practically an undoing of what had been done before
and would make the previous expenditure a wasteful instead of an economical expenditure.

This point is more especially insisted upon, because
it appears to be the cardinal point in the whole
financial question. To produce beneficial results
some system must be devised for providing a regular
uninterrupted and continually increasing supply of
funds, and this supply must be independent of the
fluctuations in the revenue, or of the exigences of
the public service, because the injury done by a reduction of the grant in one year will not by any
means be repaired by an unusually large grant in
another. The ground once lost can hardly ever be
regained. But although this is true with regard to
the whole of the expenditure on account of education, it is more especially true with regard to that
part of it which comes under the head of current
expenditure—the yearly provision for the maintenance of existing schools. The establishment of new
schools is a question which may very well be left to
be decided from year to year; but the maintenance
of existing schools should be secured with the greatest care for the reasons already stated.

It is quite obvious that the votes for education
made by the Provincial Council are founded upon
estimates which can at most be only a rough guess.
It is impossible for the most far-seeing financier
to estimate with any approach to accuracy the
number of children that there will be of a school age in the province during a given time, and how
far the ordinary revenue in future years will be able
to meet the liabilities created now. In order to provide for these, that is, for the maintenance of schools
which are now in existence, or which may in future
be established, some system is required which is in
some measure self-regulating—expanding and becoming more productive in proportion as the calls
upon it become greater. It appears to the Commission that the numbers of the population afford,
upon the whole, a very fair test of the educational
requirements. Though there are a great many disturbing causes to make this test fallacious in particular instances, still, as a general rule, the proposition appears to hold good, that the increase of
the expenditure on account of education is determined by the rate at which the population increases,
and thus it would follow that a revenue depending
for its productiveness on the number of the population would meet the educational requirements.

Now there are two sources of revenue which, besides that derived from the school-fees, appear to
answer the conditions here adverted to, of expanding
and becoming more productive just in proportion
as the population increases. First, a rate calculated
on the basis of population; and secondly, the Custom’s Revenue, the amount of which also follows
with very great approach to exactness the numbers
of the population. And it is from these two sources
that the Commission would recommend that the
funds necessary for education should be derived.

It is calculated that the amount of state aid required for meeting the current expenses of the
schools is according to the present scale about
£4000 per annum. That is for the mere support of
existing schools, exclusive of all expenses on permanent objects. It is conceived that by means of a
moderate rate, which would be most conveniently
levied, not on individuals, but on houses, added to a
small fraction of the proportion of customs received
by the province, this sum could be raised without
any appreciable inconvenience.

From the most careful calculations which the
materials at hand would allow the Commission to
make, checked by the opinion of those most competent to give an opinion, it would appear that the
population of the province on the 30th June last was
about 22,000; and it may be assumed, as has been
found to be the general rule, that on an average
there are five persons to each house. This would
give about 4400 houses in the province, and therefore a rate of ten shillings on each of these would
produce £2200.

Again, it appears that the share of the Customs’
revenue received by the province for the year ending
the same 30th June was £23,345 8s 10d; now it
appears to the Commission that, without sensibly
affecting the resources of the province, a plan analogous to that embodied in the original Education Ordinance of 1848, might be adopted, and a definite proportion of the revenue received from the Customs be
permanently set apart by Act exclusively for the
support of schools.

Following the proportion fixed by the above ordinance, it is recommended that one-twentieth part
of the provincial share of the Customs’ revenue be
secured for this purpose.

The revenue which would have been raised during
the year ending the 30th June last on the plan here
proposed would have stood as follows:—

A rate of 10s on 4400 houses ... £2200
One-twentieth of £23,345 8s 10d, provincial share of Customs ... 1167

Total ... £3367

It may be assumed that by the end of the present
financial year the number of houses will have increased to at least 5000, giving an increase of £300,
and at the same period the revenue derived from the
Customs will reach at least £26,000, giving an increase of more than £120; and thus the sums available for education will be as follows:—

A rate of 10s on 5000 houses ... £2500
One-twentieth of £26,000 ... 1300

Total ... £3800

Thus the current revenue would meet the current