THE WAY OUT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 905, 26 August 1910, Page 6

THE WAY OUT.

EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION.. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES OF BOARDS. Commercially speaking, the New Zealand Department of Public Instruction is a millstone which hangs round the neck of, the Government, for it costs a huge sum. annually to carry on, and produces no material return that can be accounted for in terms of pounds, shilling's, and pence. Yesterday, in its .various aspects, the problem was very fully discussed by the Education Boards' Conference, and at a later stage formed the subject of a heart-to-heart talk with the Minister for 'Education (the Hon. G. Fowlds).

Building- and Maintenance Grants. • A long and involved discussion took place upon the subject of that very vexed question, the expenditure of money for purposes of maintenance of schools, and tho rebuilding of worn-out schools. According to the Department, the system upon which the grants for these purposes was paid but should have resulted in the

accumulation of reserve 'funds in the -accounts of the various boards against prospective expenditure in the matter . of maintenance and rebuilding. ; Being paid out on a collective'basis, it .was assumed that an automatic accumulation would have taken place.. Instead of that, the annual financial 'statements of the boards dis-, closed the fact that certain boards'-had no accumulations whatever. Worse, one or two.were seriously embarrassed from lack, of funds'to meet very pressing . requirements in'the matter of 'school, accommodation.' Plus that, (lie Department last ■ year' withdrew this specinl grant, making the difficulty still more acute, and strenuous protests, were heard from every, district.'. '

• A Remedy, • Tho position was finally summed up yesterday in tho-following resolution by Mr. G. L. Stewart (seuretary of the Wellington. Board) -.— "The recommendations of tho Education Committee of 1903 form a reasonable basis for determining flu; allowances to boards on account of . maintenance of buildings, and also, as from J'JIB, on ui> count of rebuilding, provided'tho discretion recommended by the Education.Committee in 1904 is allowed; but.tho boards, are satisfied that the building grants prior to 1303 were not sufficient to.enable them-to make any provision tor rebuild; ing in the futuro as they were only to meet,.immediate and pressing requirements. The amounts payablo ,on account, of maintenance and rebuilding should bo intimated to thd boards early, in each year, and the grant should be • paid to boards in quarterly instalments. For the guidance of boards the capital .amounts On, which the allowances - aro computed should be explicitly stated.

"Tho rates of increaso in attendance vary =so greatly; not only in different dis-" tricts in any one year, .but in the same district from year to year, that no' gen-eral-principle can be stated for determining the amount to be allowed each year to each district on account of new buildings. Tho amounts to •be allotted to boards, therefore, require to be deteimined by a careful examination of requirements in each individual case, regard being had to local conditions. • The amount paid in each east) shuulil.be tUu actual cost.", ■ • •

Tho Inspector-General (Mr. Hogbcn) gave a lengthy explanation of the system as based upon the recommendations' of tho Parliamentary Committee, in 1903, but it was evident that the principles of accountancy involved in the working of the system in actual practice were not clearly understood by the delegates, and following upon the' adoption of Mr. Stewart's recommendation, Mr. Mitchell, of Dunedin, moved, and it was resolved, that the Department bo asked to supply, for the information'of. .the. boards, a detailedstatement of the operations of the' system in its application to each education board. i Latter-Day Oliver Twists. ■ But, like Oliver Twist, the conference wanted still more,'resolving— "That the Minister be asked'to consider the advisability of increasing tho amount granted to education -boards for general purposes, as; while the expenditure of ■tho boards is continually on.the'increase, owing to new provisions of tho Act and new regulations, yet the allowance fixed by tho Government in 1902 remains- the same. Amongst tho-fresh charges placed' on the fund are postage and telegrams, exchange on teachers' cheques, additional inspectors and instructors, maintenance of technical school buildings, and extra clerical assistance to comply with the conditions required by tho Department." Speaking to the motion, the iiev. P. B. Fraser (Dunedin) said that if the desire of the conference in this respect were carried into effect, one of the direct benefits accruing would be appointment—this would happen in the Otago district, at any rate—of organising inspectors to supervise the working of tho country schools. (Hear, hear.)

INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER. Subsequently the members of the conference waited upon .the Minister, for Education' at Parliament Buildings, and hud before him the resolutions which had been adopted. The spokesmen wore tho 'jlmirman (Mr. ■]?. Pirani), and Messrs. C. H. Opio and C. J. Parr, and the Rev. P. B. Kraser. These gentlemen reviewed succinctly the salient points of tho discussions which had taken place, Mr. Pirani adding a suggestion that tho Minister should make a statement with reference to.tho withdrawal of tho building and maintenance grant. If in any one year, ho pointed out, this grant were not paid, tho whole scheme of finance laid down by tho Parliamentary Committee in 1003 would be thrown out of gear. The Minister, in tliQ courso ot his'-re-ply, expressed his pleasure in tho ocrasiou, and said that if more opportunities for meetings of this kind we're- afforded the results could not but be advantageous to the administration of education. .

Reply to Protests. Some protest had been raised by tho boards and in tho press that tho administrative side of education had not been afforded representation at the. .General Coft-

ference iu February last, but he was now moro thoroughly convinced than before that ho had done the proper thing. The General Conference was too large as it was. He fully appreciated then the value of such . a conference as .had just been held, Mid regretted that it had not beeu arranged, for a time when he could havn been free to attend its deliberations— that was in his mind when he announced that a conference of a similar character would be held next year. The recommendations adopted by them would receive his careful consideration, and r.nggestlons of practical value acted upon. With regard to the future control of education, he did not propose to say much at present. There was, ho admitted, something to be said for local con. traliscd control by the boards. But tho fact remained that a system which involved the spending of large Mima of money without tho responsibility of raising them was a statement sufficient to condemn it. Whether tho time was ripe for a change was another matte:— tho boards had douo good work, and ho did not intend to make any change In the system jus't for the nuko of making a change. x

Rural Schools. Turning to the condition of the rural schools, criticised ' dui ing the conl'erenei by the Rev. P. B. Frasor, and reiterated at the commencement of the interview,the Minister said that they must ull agree that the status and salary of th<

rurul teacher had- been greatly improved The examination and classification of pupils was entirely in the ,lmuds of tlu, boards. Inspections should be more fro tjueiit.' (Hear, hear.) Though it migln savour' of (reason were he to contrast tiic respective efficiency. of the European and Native schools, yet he was impelled to say that.- the relationship between the Departmental / inspectors and the teachers themselves was oh the plcasantost. footing,, and-the visit of the inspector was ono of the events of the. year—he was the teacher's friend. Foi some considerable time, however, thuii ideals would.be slow of attainment,- so far .us the .primary, schools were con, corned, and more .frequent inspections should be arranged for, pending the ad vent of highly-qualified graduates of-tht training colleges. Mr. Pirani suggested that it would bo necessary to iiicreasc-.,tho vote in order to reach out towards': a. better system of classification and promotion.. (Hear, .hear.) . The. Minister, continuing;, iudicated that he intended to bring down some amendments to the Act this session, and a mass of returns relating to buildings and finance would, be referred to the Education' Committee of the House lor consideration and report. Personally, he would be very glad to do it. The system of separate grauts was, no doubt, better than a' total building vote on-a capitation basis. (Hear, hear.)

That Lost Grant. "\ Referring to the stoppago of the main, tcnanco and' rebuilding grant, the Minister said'that though-"the system had' been elaborated ,by the Parliamentary Committee, it was never intended that it should not be subject to revision; and the ' committee's report' had/' suggested, this. It had since' been shown that the boards had..not ,been embarrassed —they had money .in hand. The interview. then closed, and Mr. Pirani, on' behalf of the delegates', 'thanked the Minister for his kindly reception of their recommendations.