SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1760, 7 February 1888, Page 4

SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

There is no doubt whatever that there is great need for reform m the manner m which School Committee elections are conducted, and over and over again this proposition has been affirmed by meetings of householders, and by School Committee Conferences, and it is not a little disappointing that the efforts pnt forth from session to session by the member for Waimate aud others have not as yet been successful m achieving the desired reforms. Curiously enough, too, this failure to give «ffect to the general desire has not been because the House of Representatives dissents from the popular view — the conrary, md ed, bfing the case, as the School Committees Election Bill, or l<ducatioual Franchise B : ll as for the past two sessions it has been intituled, has no less than six times m as many successive years passed its t-econd reading, and has been four times sent up to the Legislative Council. Twice the accidents of the session have prevented its reaching its final stage m the House, and once it was lost m the Legislative Council under very'peculiar circumstances. It had pssed the second real ing m that Chamber, but was challenged on the motion for committal, when one honor able member, who intended to give his toico with the " Ayes," gave it m advertently with the " Noes," the vote thus counted wiih the noes making a tie. The member m question at once explained the error, but the Speaker refused to allow the division list to be corrected, and although had this been done the " Ayes " would have " had it " by a majority ot two, gave his casting vote with tbo noes. After bo many ricisftitudes it is to be hoped that the • seventh attempt — wbi«h will no doubt be made next year — will successful. For there are four maters which it is especially desirable should be amended m connection with the election of School Committees, 'ihes care— First, that there should be a more intelligible and explicit definition of the franchise, the term " householder " as defined by the Act, being now open to very various interpretation ; second, that the nomination should be separated from the election so as to enable the voters tt know before hand the names of the candidates ; third, that some better provision should be made for the conduct of the election itself, and fourth that that strange excrescence upon the system — peculiar to Pchool Committee elections — tho cumulative vote should be done away with As regards the first point it is only necessary to state it, because universal experience has demonstrated the unsatisfactoriness of tho present condition of things; and an regards the second it must bo patent that householders could exercise their votes more satisfactorily if before the date of the election opportunity were afforded of enquiring into tho relative merits of the candidates for office. And m answer to the objection, that it would involve expense, it may be pointed out that there need not be any expense involved, as the posting of a list of nominations on tho schoolhouse doors womld give all tho publicity required, Th ■ making of better provision for the conduct of the election is no doubt a matter of greater difficulty, but unless School Committee Elections are to be altogether a farce something Hko a rotors' roll is an absolute necessity, especially m the large centres of popufUon, wfeeri under Ui9 e*ietiu£ state of

things it ia impossible to know who ia entitled to vote and who is not. As to the cumulative vote its raison d'etre was the idea that it would provide for the representation of Catholics on the School Committees and thus do away with the objection of Catholics to our present system of State Education. But it has wholly failed to realise that result and is availed of for purposes very foreign to the designs of those who foisted it into the Act. For example at last year's election of a Committee m au Otagan up-country district a certain candidate secured his election bj bringing up a number of Chinamen from a mining camp and getting thorn each to poll " 7 " m his favor. Surely a system which admits of such abuses as that ought to be speedily renounced. Altogether there iB a very strong case m favor of a reform of this part of our Educational machinery, and we reit rate tlie hope that that reform will not be much longer dela e&