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EDUCATION BILL

BATTLE ABOUT BOUNDARIES

STRONG OPPOSITION

In the- House of Representatives yesterday afternoon tho lion. J.'A. Hanan moved tlie second reading of tho Education Amendment Bill. Referring to vlio necessity for reducing the number of districts, lie said that ir tho percentage of the cost of administration to total incomo of tlio thirteen existing boards couid bo reduced to tho rate in tlio 'Otago district, it would mean, a saving to tho country of £12,000 a year. The saving to bo effected was ono of tho strongest reasons for amalgamation of small districts into largor ones. Another reason was that in. small districts there wero not sufficient opportunities for promotion for teachers. Also some districts now were too small to be am administrativo unit.; They could not havo assured finance, and they could not carry out such work as technical _ education satisfactorily. The Commission had recommended seven districts, but he .was doubtful whether tho Houso would agree to this. (Cries of "Yes.") The Government did" not wish to run tho risk <j'f making the number of districts, too fowl 7 Mr. M7Ca!lum: Make it fivo v . . Mr. Hanan thought' that this would arouse more opposition. His colleagues had como to the conclusion that a fair solution of the difficulty was. to havo nine districts, five with headquarters in .the North Island, and four in t'he South Island. Tlie boundaries of the districts would bo defined .by the Coun. cil of ICducation.. , A Charge of Weakness. 1 Mr. H. Poland (Ohinemuri) declared that the National Government had shown lamentable weakness in departing - from the recommendation of the Commission that .there should be seven districts only. His own opinion was that education 'boards might with ad-' vantage bo abolished. Some local control should be retained, but now schools were under triplicate control. The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald (Bay of Plenty) said that the Government had received representations from.-all over New Zealaind against , the Commission's report; >He was' not much concerned as to: whether®the* reduction" in the number of districts should be to sevon or nine, but it was essential'that there should be some reduction. The Hon. D. Buddp (Kaiapoi) said he feared'that the proposal was not likely to help outlying.districts, and he was doubtful whether any' economies would bo effected. Mr. C.-J. Parr (Eden) said that'the centralised system of control of education in Australia worked With efficiency and economy.For 40 years we had had control-by boards and committees, and on. tho whole these bodies had done excellent work: For this reason ; the, : sacrificial knife must not .be applied'.too rudely at first, but some day tlie country would -have to face a complete; cliango in: the system" of administering education. .He could not -. ;eo much real'reform in reducing the - districts -from thirteen to nine. Why not have - -five?.' ; . ' ' . ' Mr. Okey.i'Let.us have onel " , To Kill the Bill. Mr. R. : i M'Callum (Wairau) said he proposed to take tlie responsibility of ■ moving that the Bill be read that day six mouths. He . favoured seven, districts, rather .than nine, and he suspected, that the Bill was tlio outcome of . political intrigue on, behalf of some';of the merged districts. He was in a : very . independent position because, iii any event; Marlborough must' go. - • Mr.'T-.'- M. Wilford (Hutt) said he refused to bel\ev'o that the present Minis->ter"-of. Education would lend himself'to' any log-rolling. - He coiinted it a strong act on the part of a- Minister, to refuse to ..bo bound by the report of a Commission, which had considered the interests of teachers rather'than the interests'of children. < '■ V Mr. '0. II Guthrie (Oroua) said it must .be presumed that the Oommissio'i had'" goo'i reasons for recommend-, ing seven, districts instead of nine. He was of opinion that the existeacacf small, districts was not for the good of the teaching profession or of education generally. He hoped the House w,vuld accept the. seven" districts' -proposal be- 1 cause he believed this would fie in the intents-;'of. th 6; whole community.

Tha Local interests. Mr. J. Grairae'(Timani) spoke in favour. of small districts, and especially in favour of the small.district, of. South Canterbury.

. Mr. G.;, J. Anderson] (Mataura)-said that if boards were to, be retained the. Government ought to leave things as : they were now, but he was strongly of opinion that the wise thing to do would be to abolish' boards- altogether, "and place teachers 'directly under the r control of the central, authority.

Mr,. 0. J. Talbot (Temuka) argued in favour of the retention of, tta South Canterbury district. ■'•■■■■ . . ' - v Mr. T. A. H. Field (Nelson) and Mr. R. P. Hudson (Motueka) both protested against tho abolition of the Nelson district. L

Mr.; H.. J. H. Olcey (Taranaki) expressed, satisfaction with the proposal to make the number of districts nine rather-than/soven,.and he hoped the Taranaki, district would be retained.

Tho Bill Necessary. The Hon. J. A. Hainan , said he did not. think that any member of the House with- a. sense/of; responsibilitywould voto "to' give the Bill 6ix months.". There were, difficulties' in ■ connection with the 1914 Act which would have to be put right'by legist tion,-and'for this the Bill was urgently necessary. And if .the Bill were not passed: the recommendation of the Commission would take effect automatically. Then, without an amendment of the law, there would, be. seven "education districts and"thirteen education boards. Be denied that the Government had shownany weakness on the .boundaries ques- ' The i amendment was defeated by 49 votes to 8; and the.Bill was read, a second time on the voices:

; Ten Distriots Suggested. The Bill was committed."Mr. K. M'Callum OVairau) moved an amendment to increaso tho number of districts to ten. • Tho.amendment, was. defeated: by 30 votes to 25. • . Tho Bill was reported without amendments. . ■' • A Misapprehension. When the Education Bi'l came on for third reading several members said'that they Had voted 1 on tlie amendment under a, misapprehension. Some' had voted, to : support the amendment, ; which': was • in. effect that tho word "iyue" be deleted with to object of inserting "ten." Tho Chairman explained vory'clearly ; 'tba,t if. the amendment were carried Mr. M'Callum would have the first- right' to. move to insert tlio word : "ten/Nbut that it would also be open to any member to movo that the number bo .4, 5, 7. or indeed any number.: Many members voted against the amendment because they were opposed to increasing the number of districts to ten. Some _of these wero not really in favour of nine districts, but would liavo supported a reduction to seven. These should have voted for the amendment, but under a misapprehension they voted to retain the word "nine." To put matters right, Mr. J. Payne moved to recommit the Bill". Tliis proposal was, however, defeated by 33 votes to 24, and tho Bill was read a third time. '

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19151009.2.49

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2588, 9 October 1915, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,135

EDUCATION BILL Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2588, 9 October 1915, Page 6

EDUCATION BILL Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2588, 9 October 1915, Page 6

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