Education Ordinances, 1862 and 1864.

An amended Education Ordinance was passed in 1862, and it remained in force until it was superseded by the Ordinance of' 1864, which regulated the administration of school affairs in Otago until the abolition of the Provinces in 1876. The main reason for the repeal of the Ordinance of 1862, was the strong dissatisfaction expressed more particularly in the gold fields districts, with the provisions relating to religious instruction in the schools. These required that, in addition to the daily reading of the Bible, such religious instruction should be given as the School Committee-might appoint, and that no religious instruction should be taught "at variance with what are commonly known as Evangelical Protestant doctrines," no child being bound, however, to attend on such instruction contrary to the wish of the parent or guardian. In the Ordinance of 1864, the following provision was substituted:—" In every school the Holy Scriptures shall be read daily, and such reading shall be either at the opening or close of the school, and no child whose parent or guardian shall object to such instruction shall be bound to attend at such times."

It was provided by the Ordinance of 1864 that the Education Board should consist of the Superintendent of the Province, his Executive Council, and the Speaker of the Provincial Council. A school committee for each district was to be elected annually by the owners and occupiers of land and the householders within the district. The teachers were to be elected by the school committees, no election being valid until the person elected produced a certificate of fitness from H.M. Committee of Privy Council on Education, or from the Board's Inspector of Schools. School fees were authorised to be levied from the scholars attending the several schools; but committees were authorised to remit them in cases of poverty. Authority was given to committees by the Ordinances of 1862 and of 1864 to defray a portion of the school expenses by the imposition, page 147when necessary, of a special rate upon heritable property within the respective districts. The levying of this rate was attended with so much difficulty and opposition that the Provincial Council passed a resolution in 1865 to render the continuance of the rate unnecessary, by increasing the annual fixed salaries of teachers from £50 to £100 each, and by bearing a larger share of the other expenses, the remainder being met by the school committees out of the school fees, supplemented by donations and subscriptions from the friends of the several schools.