EXTRACTS FROM HANSARD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1855, 31 May 1888, Page 3

EXTRACTS FROM HANSARD.

EDUCATIONAL FRANCHISE BILL

On Wednesday, May 16tb, on the House resuming at half. past seven, Major Steward brought forward his Educational Franchise Bill. In doing so he spoke aa f oUows :— Sir, the Bill whioh I have now the honor to submit to the House for second reading is one which ia by no means new to the House, la the years 1882, 1883, 1884, and 1885 a measure containing the provisions of this BUI was approved of by thlß House, p.Bßed through all Us stages, and went to another place. In the following year, owing to some misunderstanding which occurred m Oommlttee. progress waa reported. Last year the Bill waa oarried on its second reading by a very large majority— a majority of the whole House-— and only failed to be prooeeded with m consequence of Government business taking preoodence for the remainder of the session. The proposals In this BUI are bo very slmpl. that they need no very long explanation at my handi. They are three only, and they are these : We propose to repeal the oumulatlve vote, whioh his now been tried for some ten years, and whioh haa not been found to at all answer the purposes for which It was Imported into the Aot m another place. There ia a very general desire to revert to the single vote, ■nd lo proof of that I had the honor to BUbmlt to this House some four or five yean ago returns from no less than 659 School Committee*, who, by a majority of at leaat five to one, desired the repeal of the cumulative vote Then, In 1886 no less than sixty-seven petitions were presented against the cumulative vote ; bat there never has been before this Legislature for the last six or •even sessions one single petition m favor of the retention of that vote. I may also refer to the fact that last year on a division being taken the supporters of the proposal were found to number In a fall House fifty to twenty-four, and alßo to the fact that the honourable gentleman who at present occupies the position of Minister of Education, and did so then, gave his approval with the majority. On that occasion the honourable gentleman expressed regret that the Bill did not make provision for tbe better definition of the word M householder." Laat year tt was thought expedient, owing to the great amount of business then before the Houße, merely to limit ourselves to the ona question of repealing the cumulative vote, but I informed tbe honourable gentleman en that occasion when the Bill went into Oommlttee that I should be very glad Indeed to accept a clause, if one oould be devised, to better define tbe word "householder," which Is so open to various Interpretations at present that there are different opinions regarding It even In contiguous districts, aud those who are ruled not to be householders m one place are ruled to be householders m another pltce, and vice versa. Indeed, many elections have been upset m consequence of this doubt, and many more are likely to be "upeet. . The definition given m the present Bill la, " ' Householder ' means and includes every person whoee name appears on any electoral roll for the General Assembly for the time being In force, and who resides within the limits of a school district, and tbe parents or guardians of all children attending the school." If any honorable member had a betterfdefinltlon than that, which would make the meaning more clear, It can be considered In Committee, and I shall be only too happy to accept such an amendment, aa my object is to get rid of the cause of very great oonfuslon. The Bill alao provides for appointing the time and place of the annual meeting of householders, as there Is a general deaife expresaed that the people should be made aware beforehand of the candidates that are to be proposed. At present the nominations of members of Oommltteea are all made at the .meetings whioh are held from year to' year, and It very often happens th.t these nominations are put together hastily, and that men are proposed who are not eligible, while others, who would bo very desirable members of Oommlttee, are not put m nomination simply beoause not present and not thought of. Then, there 1b also an attempt made m the Bill to get rid of acme difficulties la the conduct of tbe elections whioh have been found to exist-. Perhaps the Honae will be surprised when I tell them of one — that Is, that .he Aot at present appears to-asaume that there would always be more than the required number of candidates. The Bill provides that if there are more than seven candidates the electors shall proceed to ballot ; whereas m the Act as It stands tt is peremptorily provided that there shall be a ballot lo any case. If leas than three householders shall have been nominated, not being members of tbe outgoing Oommlttee, then the nameß of such parsons, together with the names of the outgoing Committee, are to be submitted to ballot, and the sevpu members receiving the highest number of votes are to be elected, provided that no householder Bhall be entitled to record more than one vote In favor of any one candidate. So also when there are more than seven nominations ; but If there are three or more, but less than seven, then those persons are to be deolared elected, and may themselves fill op the vacant seats on the Oommlttee. Iv regard to the nominations. I have endeavored to devise means which would not necessarily involve any expense at all — beoause It would ba seen that In some of the country districts it Is pot necessary or desirable that the expenses' should be greater than oan be avoided : therefore It is provided that the Chairman of every Committee Bhall cause a lUt of tbe candidates nominated to be affixed to the doors of the schools. -and t^at the nbioinatlopa shall be read out dally iv the schools until the date of the election, so that the children may inform their parents of tbe names of the candidates It Is also proposed to give power totheOommltteeß to advertise tho nominations if they shall bo think; tl\ This matter has been under the consideration of tbe School Committees Oonferece, representing the city and suburban schools of Dunedin, and I think I am correct In saying that tbe Bill as it stands now was unanimously approved of by that Conference. I know It was. made a question during the elections m Canterbury, and, on looking up the papers, I havo fcuad that the electors were unanimously m favor of the amendments I am now about to make. The laat remark I have to make (a bat I have no concealed objeot m m , tpodncing this treasure, there is no object In the BUI other than that which appears on Its surface, and the Qole motive j have lo bringing the matter before tbe House again is the desire that th. present education system should be improved, and that it should be poeible t> elect candidates In accordance with the wishes of the householders.

j In Bpeiklng to the Bill Mr Walker j paid ; Oaf. nlway comaß up to the session ! m '. _irq me frame of mind, and I always | ckvan op v-iih the hope warm within me that the honorable member for Oav..rehan__ will be a littlo li.sa obj^otivo In hia manner towards many ;hinga which are brought hefore up. 1 bad hoped after tho discipline to whioh t_e haa been BubJ3oted during the recess at the hands of thoae dominies who havo been endeavoring to Inform him, and after sitting so near to tho honorable member for Dunedin East — I had hoped that he was going to be like B.laaru, and, Instead of cursing, give a blessing ; but, unfottuaately, the old "A 'am still remain., acd we ehall find our friend a sort of — what Bhall I Bay ? -a .scapegoat In the wildornesß. Ab regards the Bill bcfor6 tho H.uao, I had trusted that the reasonable nature of the proposals of the honorable member for Walmate, and tbe method whioh he had met so many of the difficulties with which it bas been faced m past sessions, would have rendered It certain that the Bill 1 would pass without muoh criticism. I; trust that the House will pais it ; and, although I admit there may be small amendments introduced into it m Com mlttee, perhaps, m some few particulars, to make It better thau It now is, still I hold tt 1b a measure which may be fairly said to be demanded In the best interests of the Education Act. I entirely objeot to the argument used by the honorable member for Oaveraham that, m the Interests of the Education Act, we should not endeavor to protect that Aot from its patent defeote ; and I have all along contended that, if it were not for the good sense of this community, and the good work the Education Act la doing, that Aot would have been a dead-letter, and absolutely a ourae instead of a blessing to this country, on acoount of these defect m the machinery of our system of education. I do not bo muoh object to the cumulative system, although there Is a great deal to be aald against it, but I do most distinctly objeot to the present system of unadvertlsed nominations. Bleotlona take place on a dark night without ten people In tbe community knowing anything about them ; and If we only affirm this principle, that no eleotion oan take place without due publicity, we shall be donga great deal to proteot the true interests of tbe E location Act. With regard to the cumulative syßtem, I. believe In a great deal that hat fallen from the honorable member for St Albam ; — that It is only a device — an attempt—to effect Improvements ; and all these device*, Ingenious though tbey may be, are found In practice to fail really to have the effeot intended. Our experience m this country has shown that the Aot baa totally failed to do that which the Aot was intended to do — namely, to have the voice of the minority represented. That provision was undoubtedly Introduced to proteot a certain section of the oommunity, and to enable them to be represented on tbe School Commit tees if they ohose ; but they have not chosen, they have not taken advantage of It, and therefore the effeot Intended cannot be expeoted. But what It has done has been this ; With the small publicity that haß been given to the elections, without any duly advertised nominations, meeings have been paoked, and elections carried through by this cumulative vote In a way absolutely prejudicial to tbe true Interests of our system ; and therefore I am quite certain that the cumulative vote, aa it stands now, is of no : real valao to the community. But, If the ' cumulative vote is desired to be retained : by the expressed voice of the minority, I ( would not bo much mind retaining it. bo , long as we get properly— advertised nomi- ( aations, and a fair opportunity for tho i loaeeholders to vote at a particular time. ] rhat Is the main object, the real vital i part m the eleotion ; and, bo loa<r aa we ' secure that, I feel certain we Bhall have - lone a great deal towards the fmprovenent of our present system of election of School Oommltteea.