situation. I am sure many people who were poorer than this mother paid
the fees rather than suffer the indignity of such cross-questioning by
the school visitors and the board--an unfortunate necessity of the
system, which disappeared with the abolition of school fees.

It had been suggested by the Minister of Education of that period that
the children attending the State schools should be instructed in the
duties of citizenship, and that they should be taught something of the
laws under which they lived, and I was commissioned to write a short
and pithy statement of the case. It was to be simple enough for
intelligent children in the fourth class; 11 or 12--it was to lead from
the known to the unknown--it might include the elements of political
economy and sociology--it might make use of familiar illustrations from
the experience of a new country--but it must not be long. It was not
very easy to satisfy myself and Mr. Hartley--who was a severe
critic--but when the book of 120 pages was completed he was satisfied.
A preface I wrote for the second edition--the first 5,000 copies being
insufficient for the requirements of the schools--will give some idea
of the plan of the work:--"In writing this little book, I have aimed
less at symmetrical perfection than at simplicity of diction, and such
arrangement as would lead from the known to the unknown, by which the
older children in our public schools might learn not only the actual
facts about the laws they live under, but also some of the principles
which underlie all law." The reprinting gave me an opportunity to reply
to my critics that "political economy, trades unions, insurance
companies, and newspapers" were outside the scope of the laws we live
under. But I thought that in a new State where the optional duties of
the Government are so numerous, it was of great importance for the
young citizen to understand economic principles. As conduct is the
greater part of life, and morality, not only the bond of social union,
but the main source of individual happiness, I took the ethical part of
the subject first, and tried to explain that education was of no value
unless it was used for good purposes. As without some wealth,
civilization was impossible, I next sought to show that national and
individual wealth depends on the security that is given by law, and on
the industry and the thrift which that security encourages. Land tenure
is of the first importance in colonial prosper