Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume VIII, Number 11, 13 March 1869 — Vaccinator and other Witnesses, on the working of the New School Law. [ARTICLE]

Vaccinator and other Witnesses, on the working of the New School Law.

| Some iawyers unable to bring rebuttiog testin\ony r or otherwise prove the faliacy of the witnesses introduced by thsir oponents, have been known to rescrt to tbe simpie exi ped>ent of saying that they do not beiieve a ] word of the testimony,—and tbat no one eUe jdoes. Such conciusire argument (.'} «loes j not generaiiy weigh mu«h with j-jdge or jury. "Vaccinator" in our coiumns a few weeks since showed the oppressive working of the • new school iaw, in a siair!e instance. in a goveroment s«hooi oi iess than twenty scboi. ars the teacher stated that he had expeiled two, as he iearned that they had inoved mto his part of the field i"rom a distance, wiih | their parents. "They had formeriy attended ' school e!sewhere and had no permit. in seif- | defense he had turned them away though ; they were living six mi!es from anv other ■ schooi house. A third whom he *ti!l had in | schoo! he feared longer to keep: But a fourth, a littie g\r{ of about five summers he said he might venture to teach without permit, even [ though she had learncd her letters, or a part I of them, at a government «ehool tbirty miles ! distant, as he might, he thought, consider I himse!f as her first teacher. ■ u The perplexity of tlus poor man was very considerable. Here in a school of less than i twenty, he had met with fourchi!dren who in justice should have been his scho!ars, but whom he could not teach, except in contra. vention of the new school law that has attracted your attention. Written appiication from the parents, and written permits from former teachers, wou!d have opened the way, but neither parents, or teacher, had thought of attempting that journey to the circurniocu- | tion oiliee." We know this to be a st;\tej ment of facts. The Board of Education in their organ | refemng to this statement of Vaccinator, say J that u no one is supposed to believe it." A very characteristic answer indeed toa trouble- . some witness. I Such evidences of exalted statesmanship ! are often given by our present mmistry, and I the opponents of liberal mstitutions, and of , free educ.ation that now elaim to direct. The : light that a free press throws upon the worki ing of oppressive school iaws, and upon such ; institutions as the eoolie system, and the | "Maunaloa" sent out to procure bonded la- ; borers from the islands of the Paeihe, —is | verv inconvenient to such as rule over us; but it is difTicult to hide this lig'nt undera ; bushel. Such littie strokes of statesmanship as that of refusing to take the ' l lndependent" newspa* : pers of this city to the islands of the South ; Se>\s in their chartered Bark "iMaunaloa," — ! and this delicate litt!c feat of saying, that i il no one is supposed to believe it," may serve i a purpose for a few weeks, but will not wear i long. j Our rcaders will perhapsstill bear in mind ; that the numberof the people of the!and who ;give evidence thatthey beheve ourstatements by taking the "Kuokoa/' nnd pnying for it is more than four to oiie of those who take and pay for any government paper,and more than eight to one of those who take and pay for the "Gazette." j This law framed to hamper independent !Schools, and proving to be very oppressive in the unwarrantcd construction whieh the Board of liducation endeavor to give it, is evident!y a great inconveuience to government school teachers, and a damnge to the |common schools of the lnnii. j We have heard of a government school | teachcr who was filled with apprehension j iest he should be punished under this law, ■ i>ecause two or three of hi.s pupils had with- | out pcrmit entered a bonrding school on a | neiirhboring island. Such iuī>tances as these ;are many, and iliustrative. i Ye enemies of free schools, enemies of j free papers, enemies of free govemments, it | is useiess for you to prate of •' the misapprei hensions of the poor schoolu\asters." The ! poor schoolmasters know but too weil ihe chamcter of the men at whose wiii they eontinue in the olliee of government school teacber. Vour law conceived with the inīquitous purpose of trammeliing the independet\t schools will never work smoothlv, nor wili independentschoois beputdown bv your ? vtolenc misconstrucuon of thc iaw.