THE OVERHAULING

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1463, 11 June 1912, Page 6

THE OVERHAULING

SCHOOLS COMMISSION. SIFTING OF FACTS AND FADS. AUCKLAND KVIDKNOK. Toleirravli.—Frai. \MaßlaUon.l Auckland, .1 mm II). The Royal Commission which is nn\v inquiring into ilio present slain of edunitiim in the Dominion resumed ils Mllinus in Auckland (his morning, .Mr. Mark Cohen presiding, Jlr. Richard Crowe, secretary of Iho Auckland IMuealiou Hoard, said thai there was a great scarcity of teachers in the Auckland district. Out of til students released from the Training College at the beginning of tho year, were absorbed before the end of tYhrua.ry, and ihe remainder were all employed hcl'oro llio cud of March. Almost tho_ chief came was the gvnerous stalling of grade ■I schools. At tho other end of the scale, however, the staffing was not. at all generous. Auckland was al-o a rapidlygrowing district. Groat difficulties were nlf-o experienced in ''citing teachers for tho high schools, as the salaries were not sufficient to attract, personn properly qualified for tho work. liega,rding the free-book system, Jlr. Crowe said that it was not. working satisfactorily. In answer to questions Jlr. Crowe staled Unit Ihe Auckland Board felt I hat the control of technical education should be placed in the hands of an associated board on which local bodies had representation. This would widen the public interest iu the work. He was not iu favour of primary, secondare, aud technical education being controlled by one body. An Enthusiast on School Libraries,/ Jlr. T. W. Leys, vice-president of tho Libraries Association, in urging that adequate provision should lie made for school libraries, said that pcoplo in Now Zealand were altogether behind tho times in this connection, though wo claimed pre-eminence " for our primary system. School libraries should bo regarded as an integral port of tlie system and in the larger cities of Great' Britain, this branch was maintained by the corporations, books being issued free from the juvenile departments of tho public libraries. The hooks, of course, were very carefully selected. In the cose of New Zealand, Jlr. I.eys said that, with a free issue of juvenile books from tho Dunedin Public Library, thero were 799 borrowers on the roll, whereas, in Wellington, where thero was a chargo of 2s. fid. a year the number was -100. In Auckland, where the charge was 55., the number was only 45. "Surprised at the Utter Lack of Interest in Reading." At the Leys Institute he had had under his.observation on attendance of from 15 to 50 primary schoolboys, and ho was surprised at their utter lack of interest in reading. In the presence of this disinclination primary education practically stopped short when the pupil left school. To inaugurate a complete library system for New Zealand schools in the uriper standards (on the basis of '42,475 pupils) the cost of providing one book each at a charge of 3s. would mean .£O3ll, and according to a Teturn prepared by tho Education Department, the cost of circulation would be ono shilling per head. 'A Witness Who Wanted Art. Mr.. E. W. Favton, Principal of Elam School, advocated a system of national art competitions' which lie said would have a most advantageous effect' on art in the Dominion. These would take tho place of the South Kensington examinations which were- practically not available to tho average colonial student. 110 found no want of talent either in town or country, and all that was wanting was the opportunity. A Technical Man. Mr. G. George, Director of Technical Education iu Auckland district, spoke on the education system generally, as well as technical education, lie favoured setting up . ono board to control secoiul"l'.v, technical, and university education. This board should have power to lovy rates -which should be subsidised by the Government on a £2 for .CI basis. With regard to the raising of teachers, he considered that they should not be allowed to attend the training college until they reached tho age of 20. Male teacher's entering the college should be bound for a longer period than at present, for many ot them merely made the Training College a stopping-stone to other profp.ssions. Such members should be compelled to reimburse the cost of their traininHo maintained that female teachers should not he given such hard work as that allotted to males, and the basis of pay should be made accordingly. Physically, women were not constituted to work as hard as men.' A medical inspection of each school should be made twice a year. Dealing with t'chnicat education, witness remarked that technical schools should be made to serve manr purposes during the day. For instance, 'they could be used as secondary and continuation schools, and also be part of the universitv system. The advantage of such a plan was that the .same equipment and the samo staff could bo utilised for varied purposes. Technical- schools could also bo used for vocational schools, where boys and girls could receive a certain amount of training in learning trades. He would make it compulsory for all boys and girls to attend continuation school's until the age of 15 years. He did not believe in evening classes for those who worked eight hours during the day at ,+heir businesses. In Munich (Bavaria) apprentices attended day/continuation classes for eight to nine hours every week. Employers'in that country, who had been at first opposed to the classes, were now delighted with the system. With respect to the remuneration of teachers, ho considered that technical instructors sliould bo tho ■best paid of all teachers. An Education Board Chairman. Jlr. G. .T. Garland, chairman of tho Auckland Education Board, did not make a statement, but he answered a number of questions as to education administration and'other aspects of tlie system. He favoured the present Auckland method of appointing teachers. School committees were doing, and had done, good work, and should not bo done away with. Tho functions of the committee, however, should not be extended in the matter of selecting teachers. He advocated a Dominion scheme for the grading and promotion of teachers. Commission's Future Sittings. The sitting.? of the commission opened on Tuesday last, and will conclude tomorrow. In the evening, members of tho commission will leave for the south by tho Jlain Trunk express, and will continue their sittings in Dunedin. From Dunedin they will proceed to Invercargill, ami, afterwards, they will sit at Christchurch and Wellington, in turn. The sittings of the commission will conclude at Wauganui. It is anticipated that the sittings in tho various centres will engago members of the commission until the middie of July.