EDUCATION BOARDS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2750, 19 April 1916, Page 7

EDUCATION BOARDS

THE REPRESENTATION

WAIKARAPA'S PROTEST

"That this board protests ompha tically against tho provisions contained in the Education Act, 1914, determining the division of Education Districts into rural and u.vbau areas without due regard for the equitable representation of sohools and committees."

In moving the above resolution at the monthly meeting of the Education Board held yesterday afternoon, Mr. A. W. Hogg said that for a considerable Jiumbor of years the. Wellington Education District had been divided into three wards—tho City, Wairarapa, and Hutt-Horowhenua.' The board consisted of nine members, and each ward had returned three. This division of tho district had worked fairly well, but tho Education District had' since been enlarged by the addition of Marlborough and allowed twelve instead of nine members. If the Board had been left in'the' same way as county councils and local bodies generally, to form its own divisions, it would probably havo constituted Marlborough a fourth ward, giving it throe members, the samo as the others, and no friction over representation would havo occurred. Unfortunately, the Education Act of 1914, instead of leaving the task of dividing the district and adjusting the representation in competent local hands, de-. termined the mode of division. It drew a rigid line between the town and country dividing education districts into rural and urban areas. An urban, area consisted of a borough or group of adjoining boroughs, containing over 8000 persons. The City of Wellington absorbed the adjoining boroughs of Miramar, Karori, and Onslow, and is entitled to four membere, while the boroughs of Petono and Hutt, formerly a portion of the Hutt-Horowhenua Ward, has two members. That left six members for the. remainder of the district, called the rural area; and on account of the dividing range tho rural area had to he made into two divisions, Marlborough forming a third, with two members for each division. The unfairness of the representation on the hoard was apparent when the number of schools, average attendance and x number of members <\f tho board for each division were considered. In the City aiid suburbs urban area there were 23 schools with an average attendance* of 8758, with four members on the. board; Petono and tho Hutt with five schools,, and an average attendance of 2339, had two members. In the rural, area tho Wairarapa, .with 161 schools, and an average attendance, of 4887, the Upper Hutt-Horowhenua ward, witli 37 schools, and an average attendance of 2976, and the Marlborough ward, with 91) schools,' and an average attendance of 2339, hftd only two members each. Those figures clearly showed ,that_ if the representation on the board was based on the number of schools, committees, and the average attendance,- Wairarapa would have four members instead of two, but under this fantastic division of urban and: rural areas it loses a member instead of-gaining one, and toall intents and purposes was disfranchised. Mr. Hogg's views were warmly supported by Mr. T, Moss and Sir Walter Buchanan, and also, in a measure, by Mr. William Allan and Mr. W. H. Field.

On the motion being put-to the board, it was unanimously carried. ;