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In outlying districts where only one school can be maintained in any degree of efficiency, children of all denominations attend the same school as a matter of necessity, but no difficulty has ever occurred on the ground of dissatisfaction with the religious teaching.

Having to deal with such a diversity of religious elements in their several schools, the teachers have been invariably led by their own good sense so to adjust their religious teaching as to respect the religious liberty of all under their charge.

Difficulties which theoretically assume grave proportions in the minds of men strongly imbued with sectarian sympathies vanish insensibly in practice when handled by the common sense of private individuals.

A consideration of the details of management by the three religious denominations to which the distribution of educational funds is entrusted leads to the conclusion that, even with the religious bodies themselves, the providing religious teaching in their peculiar tenets for the children of their several congregations has been in great measure lost sight of.

The point in which such a system or rather diversity of systems as has hitherto prevailed in Canterbury would be supposed to have peculiar advantages would be in the direction and control exercised by the ministers of religion over the religious instruction in the various schools. It will be seen that in two cases out of the three such supervision is not even contemplated; in the third case, though contemplated, it is not, except in a few cases, carried out. On the other hand it may well be questioned whether further interference on the part of the clergy would have had a beneficial effect. If the teacher of a school be not qualified to give religious teaching independently of direction from without, he may well be considered altogether unfit for his office. However beneficial the visits of the clergy may be to the schools in another point of view—and the Commission are far from undervaluing the good which might result from their influence—it cannot be doubted that it is to the master that the parents must look to give religious teaching, and impart a religious character to instruction in a school, and that any system would be proceeding on a wrong principle so far as it delegated any responsibility in the matter to any other person.

The question as to what constitutes religious teaching, has been forcibly put by a member of the Church of England, in his replies to questions issued by the Commission. He says:—"My own opinion is that religious teaching is not what would be obtained from the occasional visits of a minister of religion and his (say) weekly addresses to the children in the school. To my mind, religious teaching consists in that familiarity with the main truths of the Christian religion as revealed in the Scriptures which a child gains in its daily lessons, through which a knowledge of religious truth is stored in the memory to fructify in after life. Such lessons, taught by schoolmasters of good character and ability, seem to me to constitute what ought to be called religious teaching in a school."

The Commission, in their visits to the different schools in the province, could not but gain the conviction that the efficiency of the religious teaching in each case varied with the character and ability of the teacher, and depended on no external influence, nor on the connection of the schools with the different religious denominations.

The Commission are of opinion that too much care cannot be exercised in the choice of men of high moral and religious character for the office of teachers, provided that other and no less necessary qualifications are not overlooked.

The principle on which teachers are in many cases selected for Church of England schools is spoken of by the Bishop of Christchurch in the following terms:—

"As regards the rural and less thickly populated districts, unless the denominational system be maintained, it would be impossible to obtain qualified teachers, except at a cost very disproportionate to the number of children educated. As it is (I speak of course with reference to the schools under my direction) these schools will bear a very favorable comparison with those in our towns and more populous districts, though the remuneration which these teachers have received is considerably less than that received by the masters in town schools; and the reason is this: These schools in many instances have been undertaken by earnest members of the Church of England, from a real desire to promote the religious education of the young. The persons to whom I refer are not trained teachers, but this want of training has been in great measure supplied by their earnestness in the cause of education."

In another place his Lordship says:—

"The great point is to raise the standing of the schoolmasters in their own estimation and in that of society, by securing to them a sufficient remuneration for their services, and by treating their office as it ought to be treated, viz., as one of great importance and responsibility. We have already done something in this direction in the Church of England schools. The office of master is regarded by us as a Church office, the teacher holding it under license from the Bishop. Moreover, young men of education and earnestness who have been and are still in charge of parochial schools, have been admitted into Holy Orders, the teaching of the young being considered as a fitting probation for the diaconate, and in some instances for the higher offices of the church."

With regard to the passages quoted above, the Commission, in identifying some of the cases alluded to, desire to record the high opinion they entertain of schools taught by men who have been proved to possess qualities which counterbalance the previous want of training for their office. At the same time, from their experiences in other instances, they cannot but regard with grave apprehension the appointment of teachers on the ground of qualities, on the