EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1446, 22 May 1912, Page 8

EDUCATION.

BOARDS AND THE MINISTER. AN INQUIRY PROMISED. The Education Board delegates who' sat in conference on Monday to consider thoso provisions of the Local Government Bill which relate to education, waited yesterday upon tho minister for Education (tho Hon, J. A. Hanan) to lay before hiin the conclusions at which they had arrived.

Members oi' tho deputation, in presenting the resolutions passed by the conference, made it clear that in their view education had to stand apart, and was in no way correlated to roads and bridges or to hospital and charitable aid. It was repro- j suited that the education boards were actuated solely by a desire to see tho system of education efficient, and that they wished the clauses relating to education to be expunged from the Local Goyernment Bill. Jlr. Hanan, iu replying, indicated that tho Minister in charge of the Bill would mako a statement to the effect that an inquiry was about to bo set up to deal with the cost of education, primarj-, Manual, and technical. The Government would not proceed without this report. Jlr. Ilanan remarked that be personally did not approva of some of tho proposals contained in the Bill, but hoped that the great question of national education would always bs left above party or. faction. In time, accessary improvements would l>e made. It was advisable in State business, «s in private business, to take stock from timo to timo in order to find out whether a return was being obtained for money spent. An inquiry of this nature, would be made, and no consideration would be paid to parochial considerations or party politics. Men would be selected on account of their outstandisfi worth, to" conduct tho inquiry. A'ery few educationalists, the Minister remarked, regarded the system as perfect. Some contended that overlapping and waste wero taking place. ]lo quoted figures showing that the cost of education had increased enormously since IMB. . Mr. Mitchell (Dunedin); "If we are netting value, the money is well spent.' The Minister agreed that money spent on education was a good investment. Ho indicated privately the lines on which the inquiry might go, and stated that ho considered the Education Department second to none in tho State.