WAS IT A JOKE?

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 904, 25 August 1910, Page 8

WAS IT A JOKE?

THREATENED EXTINCTION OF EDUCATION BOARDS. :■ "DIVIDE ET IMPERA. , .'. As was to be .expected, one of tho principal topics of. discussion at tho conference of delegates from the various education boards of tho Dominion .yesterday was tho paragraph in' tho Primo Minister's last Budget, which stated, inter alia, regarding local government:— "Tho Bill will also provide for a : transfer to the new councils of all the work and functions of our exist ing education boards, care being • taken that this important branch of the country's.work is to be carried out by a divisional committee, , and under more effective conditions than exist at present. Under'the extended jurisdiction of tho local , 'authority, the Government proposes • to transfer the work of tho building and maintenance of schools, providing the whole of .the money for the former and a 'contribution for the latter." This paragraph created.no sinall stir among, members of education boards, who saw thereon an cud to .their careers as local guardians of our national system of education. . ' ; A Retrograde Proposal. It was, therefore, in tho nature of things that one of the first, subjects selected for discussion was the following, remit, moved by Mr. T. M'Gibbon, of the Southland Education. Board:— '■ . _ "That any proposals for remov- . ing. the maintenance of education. from tho State, .etc., to subsidiary bodies is retrograde, and should bo opposed by all boards, as.education should be national, compulsory, full, and.free." .'■':' ' .. '." Speaking to the motion, Mr. M'Gibbon strongly condemned tho proposal as being-an attempt on the part of the State to make tho v burden of education a. direct tax upon v the ratepayers. Mr. C. H. Opie (North Canterbury), wjio seconded .the motion, said that'tho proposal was-.a reversion to tho hateful system of ■ house- taxation, and he was strongly, opposed to it. This, attempt ,to .saddle tho local,authorities with tho burden of .education was, he 'suspected,, one of the- material results of a recent 'tour abroad !by one of the. officers ,of the Department. New Zealand, in comparison With other countries, stood alone in many economic achievements, not the least of which was her system" of national education. . '.. ' ' For Leisured Rich or Carpet-Baggers. Mr. Mitclieil (Otago) was opposed to the proposal, which would add materially to tho .cost :of:. education without any increase'.in- educational, efficiency. ■ It would be the beginning of, a system of parochial control-as against national control. Moreover, such a system ;as was proposed meant either that the control of education wonld bo handed over to a leisured class or that those elected to do -tho work would havo to bo paid.. The latter contingency meant' the advent of the carpet-bagger. Again,' tho principle .of paying by rates meant a severe blow at the efficiency, of the smaller and. poorer, districts,; whichwould be unable to pay for education in tho same proportion as the more prosperous , districts. '.■■-. . - .'.'-.' Mr. C; J.-Parr (Auckland) denounced the proposal. .Ho suspected that at the bottom of this-jiow idea was tho question .of, financeVit, 'cost something like a million'a year to , carry on tho, wprk of education-, and the Government was apparently at' a loss where to Iμ™. for the. money. .' •■ '.. /■-.. ' ;■'■ ■' "Divide and •' i The Rev. P. B. Eraser (Dunedin) suspected some, subtle ' strategy behind this hew . move -by. tho-. Government. Ho believed, he! said dryly, -that' the ,'• Department was secretly desirous of establishing a rigid centralised system of control, and to reach that end was endeavouring ;to entrap local bodies into such' a position that it'would.be .able to-say, later, that since the ; system of local control had been proved to bo'inefficient —and tho proposed system ..inevitably must come to thair-thero was nothing else for it-but centralisation. "Divido co Impcra," said Mr. your, enemies, then conquer!" ' . tilting at a Bogy. Mr. Grimniond (Westland) thought that delegates were fighting a' shadow. An .impression--., apparently-, prevailed, that the proposal of. the Government, implied the transference of the whole system, lock, stock, and, barrel, upon tho local bodies. That-was hot so—the proposal referred to the building and. maintenance of school -bnildiiigs. Tho chairman (Mr.- Pirani). did not believe that the Government was serious in its proposal'as seated in. the 1 , paragraph in the budget. Delegates were tilting at-a'bogy. ' ■:■' , i; .-Mr; Parr: Think they; put'it in as a joke?■ (Laughter.),.;-, . V.. Mr. Pirani' said that : the proposal was a most retrograde one—n6 ■ moro retrograde step could possibly have been suggested-. Further, it had to bo remembered that the interest, of education boards in their work was a human interest. Tiey dealt with flesh and blood, as it were.' .The Department was mainly concerned with facts and figures; how much human interest was to be expected from facts and figure. , ;? Hence arose the lackiof . sym-' pathy between, the boards and the central authority. With a more- human understanding between tho two there would be less of that constant friction which had hitherto prevailed. The direct putcomo of the proposal would bo a worse condition of Confusion than existed when the old Provincial Councils, were abolished in 1877, before the. country was ready' for tho change. Mr. M'6ibbin;..in reply, thought that the budget paragraph must have been something in the nature of a feeler, to' give them something to talk about. The motion,was then put and''carried.