8. EDUCATION. Formed, like the United States, by the union of previously autonomous communities, the Commonwealth of Australia has followed the example of the United States in the distribution of powers between the Federal and state authority. That is to say none but enumerated powers have been conferred upon the Commonwealth, and all unenumerated powers remain in the hands of the originating states. Thus education, not being among the enumerated powers, is re tained, as in the case of America, by the individual states. Every man, and in recent years, every woman, possesses, after regis tration, a parliamentary franchise, and it is customary to subject knotty public questions to a direct referendum to the people of a state. Such a degree of democracy could exist only in a highly enlightened community. Elementary education, therefore, being essen tial for the exercise of the duties of citizen ship which are imposed upon all, is compul sory, and the corollary follows that it is in almost every case free; otherwise the school fees would amount to a poll tax on children, which in a country crying out for population is the most undesirable of imposts. Being for the benefit of all and not of any sect, state education is secular; and this not from any disregard for religion, but because ex perience has proved that when the state con cerns itself with dogma, strife rather than religious amity is produced. Education was in the early days of each colony left to private enterprise. Before long, however, it was recognizedconsciously by some and in stinctively in the majority, that a function so essential to the general welfare must be re garded as a duty of the state. So it came to pass that education was one of the first mat ters of public concern to be included in the ever-widening of the sphere of state activity which is the most characteristic movement of the present age. Primary education is ac cordingly throughout Australia undertaken by the several governments.
There is a general resemblance in the con ditions which those who settle in new countries are called upon to face. The prob lems of education in Australia are very sim ilar to those in America. The circulars of information issued by the bureau in Wash ington have been of the greatest assistance to the educational departments in Australia, and several useful reforms have derived their in spiration from this source. The laws relating to education in the Australian states, as might naturally be expected in adjacent communities springing from the same stock, bear a strong family likeness; but as considerable intervals intervened between the dates of colonization, and as the science of education was steadily progressive, the system adopted by each state was colored with the views which obtained at the date of its foundation. The older
colonies had, therefore, a more difficult task in bringing the laws into conformity with improved methods than those which at a later period were established on ground unen cumbered. All have, however, now come into a fairly uniform line. The sequence of evolu tion has been the same, although the suc cessive steps taken were independent and not simultaneous. In the beginning of each colony the first schools were established by the churches, aided by government grants. Soon, however, state non-sectarian schools were es tablished and the subsidies to private schools ceased. The state schools were in the first instance placed under the control of a Board of Education appointed by the government; but the basic British idea of responsibility to Parliament asserted itself, and a cabinet minister was vested with the powers previously exercised by the board. The Minister of Education or of Public Instruction, as he is sometimes termed, appoints and dismisses teachers and officers, arranges the curriculum and controls the whole department. Regula tions framed by him and approved by the governor in Council acquire the force of law after they have been laid before Parliament. This centralized administration is mitigated, and to some extent, assimilated to local con ditions, through the agency of district inspec tors and local boards of advice. The funds necessary for education are derived from the general revenue. From time to time attempts have been made to place a portion, at least, of the burden upon the local rates, but it is felt that the cost of a system designed for the benefit of the public at large should be met from a source to which, either directly or through the customs, all contribute. In New South Wales and Tasmania fees are still levied, but in the former these amount to only a fraction of the whole expenditure, and are about to be abolished; and in the latter there are free schools in the large towns. The net yearly cost to the states of primary in struction per scholar in average attendance, excluding the cost of school premises, varies from f4.6.5 to f7.8.1, the average of all six states being f6.8.9.