THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1910, 22 December 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1874.

We have before us copies of the Report of the Central Board of Education to the Superintendent and Ma Honor's reply thereto, which will be considered at the adjourned 'meeting of the Board tomorrow. The Board, after having considered the reports of the Local School Committees with regard to the number of children .to be provided for, the cost of school -buildings, teachers, &c, found that a total sum of LIO,OIB would be required to carry out the Education Ordinance successfully for the first year. The amounts estimated for school buildings and teachers' salaries for the several districts are as follows :— Hokitika, LI4OO ; Greymouth, L 2200 ; Arahara, L 164 3; Kanieri, L 875 ; Paroa, L 950 ; Totara (exclusive of cost of buildings), L9OO ; Okarito, Lsoo— total, L 8648, to which is to be added salary of Inspector, cost of school books, and other incidental expenses, which bring up the whole to L 1.0,018. As the total estimated amount made by the Government of the receipts from rates to subsidy is 0n1yL6350, the Board points out that there will be a deficit of LSB6B upon the first year's transactions, which would be increased by L 409 in the event of school buildings having to be erected in the Totara district. The Report then proceeds to say : — " Under these circumstances the Board solicits your Honor's most serious attention to the urgent necessity of increasing the sum which it is at present proposed to place upon the estimates for educational purposes oy at least five thousand pounds (L 5000). The Board is unable to anticipate ihat ib wiYl be ionnd. possible to effect any material reduction upon the estimates of the Local Committees, if an efficient system is to be provided for the Provinca. "Your Honor will doubtless observe that there are some discrepancies in the amounts set down as required by some of the committees, aa compared with the number of children of school age in their districts, and the sums stated to be necessary in other districts. It is, however, impossible, with due regard to the difference of circumstances, rigidly to restrict the estimate of expenditure in any district to the number of children resident therein. On the whole, therefore, the Board believes that xhe information supplied is fairly correct, and, consequently, that the sum specified above as necessary is not excessive. " Aasuming^the number of children in the Okarito district to be 150, it appears I that school accommodation will have to be provided immediately for at least 2543 children. It is useless to expect that this, together with the actual cost of tuition, can be done at a much less rate than L 4 per child in the first year, in a districfc + so thinly populated as are many parts of Westland. In Victoria the cost of tuition was last year L 3 4s 2d per child, and the Minister of Instruction stated in his report that the average cost per child for whom accommodation was provided had been about L 5 10s for schools of all classes. la Ofcago the cost per child was, la3t year, exclusive of buildings, L 4 Is 3d. In Nelson, in the same year, the cost per head, calculated upon the average attendance, and exclusive of money spent in building, wasL3 os3d. the estimate above given of the' expenditure necessary in Westland during the present year, a considerable sum must be regarded as extraordinary expenditure which, having been once provided for, will not again occur, or at all events reach nearly the same amount. . , "" These items are :-^-Buildings~Hoki« tika,Lsoo j Greymouth, LI OOO j Arahura,

L 593 ; Kanieri, ; Paroa, L 225 ; Totara, L 10 0; Okarito, L 30 0; school material, L 30 0; expenses Local Committees, LIOO. Total, L 3268. "Deducting this from the estimated total (L 10.018) for the current year, there remains L 6750 as the total of the ordinary expenditure necessary each year to carry out the educational system. This would give L 2 13s Id as the annual cost per child on the whole number for which the Board is immediately called upon to provide ; or L 3 15s lOd per child, reckoning an average attendance of 70 per cent. This average cost will no doubt be lessened, as the number of available teachers is increased, and the scale of salaries consequently reduced by pupil teachers, trained in Westland, obtained certificates. At present, however^it will be necessary to offer great inducements to obtain qualified teachers at all, and it is far better to do this than to bring "the Provincial schools into disrepute by permitting incompetent persons to have charge of them. • { I should point out that in the above estimates no allowance is made -for the loss of rates by the constitution of separate educational bodies under clause 40 of the Ordinance. The Board has already received an intimation that both at Greymouth and Totara a number of ratepayers will seek to avail themselves of this clause and itvisjprdbable that the same will be , the case' in Hokitika. This will ; necessarily increase the difficulty * with which the Board has to contend in the insufficiency of the funds at its disposal. "In conclusion I have to inform your Honor that every representative of a Local Committee on the Central Board of Education has emphatically expressed the opinion, on behalf of his Committee, that it would be utterly impossible efficiently to introduce the system of education pro- | vided for in the Ordinance, unless further 1 funds than those estimated by the Go- ' vernment as available are provided from some source. I beg, therefore, respectfully to urge that for the Board to attempt this task of introduction, until such funds are available, would be to incur certain failure, and, by disturbing existing arrangements, which, however, inadequate, are effective in their degree, to do a serious injury to the cause of education throught the Province. " I have the honor to be, Sir, "Your most obedient servant, " G. G. FitzGerald, "Chairman of the Westland Board of Education." His Honor's reply to the Board's representations is to the effect that there can be no material increase in the grant already provided from Provincial funds, and that if the Board adhere to their conclusions " the effect will be to nullify the action taken by the Provincial Councial in passing the Education Ordinance, and thus leave the question of education in the unsatisfactory condition it has been in few years past, without having even Jgiven the system proposed by the Provincial Council a trial." He proceeds to comment upon the discrepancies o the Estimates of the. various local committees, and as an instance takes the reports from Hokitika and Greymouth and remarks, " it is difficult to -ondeTsta^d how, with an estimated number of 500 children likely to attend school in Hokitika, the expense should be estimated at LI4OO, wherea9 with an estimated number of only 400 children, Greymouth should require L 2200, the circumstances of both towns being nearly alike, and that the district of Arahura should require L 1643. I feel certain that the Board will at once recognise the necessity for close investigation where such differences exist." Having compared the estimates of the number of children in the different districts obtained from the police, with those of the Local Committees, his Honor proceeds to say : — " From this return it is apparent that some serious error has been made in the Arahura district, which will materially modify the expenditure contemplated there, as instead of having to make provision for from five hundred to six hundred children as estimated, the actual number will be about one-fourth, and in three districts of Callaghan's, Fox's, and Big Dam, where it was proposed to create half-time schoo2s, the number oi children resident there from five to fourteen years are :— Callaghan's, 7 ; Fox's, 5 ; Big Dam, 8, hardly a sufficient number to justify the Board in expending a sum of Ll2O for buildings, and Ll5O per annum for a teacher. In preparing this return, I have taken into consideration the number of children that will probably remain in attendance at the denominational and private schools in the first instance, as I think the Board will agree with me that the schools already in existence will be maintained for some time, irrespective of those to be established under the Board. I have also estimated that ten per centum of those children capable of attending school will not do so, and of the balance which remains I take the estimate of the Board at seventy per centum as the probable average attendance." On the subject of the number, qualification, and salaries of teachers, his Honor proposes a much lower scale than the Board had adopted, and considers that the following staff of teachers would be amply sufficient to commence with :— " Hokitika : 1 head master, 1 certificated teacher, 1 mistress, 2 pupil teachers. " Greymouth : 1 head master, 1 certificated teacher, 1 mistress, 2 pupil teachers. " Totara : 1 certificated teacher, 1 mistress, 1 pupil teacher (Ross) ; 1 certificated assistant teacher, 1 pupil teacher (Donoghue's). I " Kanieri : 1 certificated teacher, 1 mistress, 1 pupil teacher (Kanieri) ; 1 certificated assistant teacher (Blue Spur) ; 1 certificated assistant teacher (Arahura). "Arahura: 1 certificated teacher, 1 i mistress, 1 pupil teacher (Stafford); 1 certificated teacher, 1 mistress, 1 pupil teacher (Goldsborough). . "Paroa: ] certificated assistant teacher (Paroa) ; 1 mistress (Marsden) ; 3 certificated assistant teacher (Maori Gully and Maori Creek) ; 1 assistant teacher (Greenstone). "Okarito: 1 certificated assistant teacher." On the subject of salaries, he is of opinion that they should not exceed the following rates :-^-Head master, L3OO ; certificated teachers, L2OO 5 certificated assistants, L 150; pupil teachers, up to L3O ; mistresses, LI 20. This would give a staff of teachers comprising— 2 head teachers at L 300 ,. L6OO ; 6 certificated teachers at L2OO, LI 200 ; 7 assistant teachers at Ll5O, LIOSO ; 7 mistresses at Ll2O, L 84 0; 9 pupil teachers, L2OO. Total, .L 3890. These salaries are, hia Honor : thinks, " very liberal." On the

subject of school buildings the Superintendent says : — "In considering the question of school buildings, the Government, as well as the Board, have recognised the difficulties of obtaining. jgufiicient funds for the erestion of new buildings in the various localities. It was originally proposed by the Provincial Government to borrow a sum of LSOOO, so as at once to provide for this, but having failed in getting the necessary authority from Parliament to do so, they feel constrained to accept such buildings as may be available at present, and from time to time, as the Provincial funds will permit, they will proceed with the erection of buildings as the urgency of the requirements may demand. In cases where buildings are urgently required, and the Board find they have not sufficient moneys to erect them, power exists under the 18th clause of the Ordinance for the inhabitants of any district to raise money by special rates, and as in many of the districts buildings have been already erected by public subscription, I think that those now requiring them should be glad to avail themselves of thi3 provision. " In looking carefully into the requirements of the various districts, and having regard to the fact that the number of children to be provided for is considerably less tban'was anticipated, the Government think that, without interfering with the usefulness of the schools, the following temporary arrangement for buildings might be made : — "Hokitika: The building at present used as a Presbyterian School, Government are informed, might be procured as it at present stands, with all school fittings, for about LIOO. An additional outlay of about L6O would supply sufficient accommodation for the estimated number of pupils. j " Greymouth: It is doubted whether the ' Government will be in a position to grant the use of the Court House for this purpose, but an expediture of L4OO will probably afford the requisite accommodation for the present. " Totara : A rental of LIOO per annum will provide for this district, as stated in your report. "Kanieri: In the township a sum of L4O would give the Committee a most suitable building in the Town Hall. "At Blue Spur a building already exists. ' • At Arahura, for the present it might be possible to obtain the use of the Wesleyan Church. "Arahura : At Stafford Town, the Government are informed from your report that they can obtain the use of the National School House, upon payment of a debt of L6O. " Goldsborough : Should it be found necessary to erect a building, Ll5O should be sufficient. "Paroa: From your report a sum of L2OO would provide temporary accommodation. " Okarito : The building formerly used as a Custom House could be made available with a small expenditure, say L 20." After dealing with a few other items of the expenditure proposed by the Board, and showing that the total estimated amount could be reduced to L 6170, his Honor thus concludes : — " In framing the Education Ordinance, the Government only contemplated the establishment of schools throughout the Province where primary education should be given, but they trust that hereafter it may be found practicable to establish high class schools, but the main duty which they feel imposed on them is to place primary education within the reach of all, even the poorest in the community, and in districts which of themselves are unable to support a school, and have for yeara been without any means of education. " The proposals submitted to the Government seem to them fitted to accomplish this, and I venture to express a hope that with the fuller information now submitted to jt, the Board will reconsider their conclusions as previously communicated to me, and see their way to the adoption of either the plan prepared by the Government or some other which will lead to the same result. "If on examination of the financial condition of the Province the Government find that they ate able to devote a larger sum as a grant in aid to the Board, they will gladly recommend its appropriation by the Provincial Council. " The Government felt that the importance of the subject demanded a full explanation of their views, and I have therefore entered now into more detail than 1 1 would otherwise have considered neces- I sary. Having done this the Government leave it entirely in the hands of the Board as the proper Executive body to deal with the matter."