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Hokitika Guardian, 28 June 1917, Page 2

i . | Recently 'the committee appointed by ■ th© Otago Education Board to consider the matter of payment of grants to school committees, outlined a scheme for increasing th© grants. They recommended “that ris the committee ore of opinion that 'the statutory grants now made to the board for committees’ incidentals aro quito inadequate, the board communicate with the other education boards and suggest that, if they have not already done so, they should approach the Government with a request for an increased grant for this purpose. That th© sums shown in the following table bo paid to seuooi committees in this district at tho end of September next, these sums to bo regarded as special war payments for tlie year ending 31st December, 1917, and that similar annum payments ho continued during the period of tho war.” The tablo appended to the resolutions (which is too elaborate to publish) provides for an increased allowance of 15 per cent for one-teacher schools, 12J per cent in all other schools except the two highest grades, which get £6 and £5 additional per school respectively. The increase recommended will amount to about £668, and ns th© board aro at present supplementing the statutory grant, by about £365, the total amount that will bo contributed annually by the board towards th© committees’ incidental fund out of their general fund will bo about £1,033.

Mb J. Wallace, in moving the adoption of the report, said that the Government were not doing what they should do for education boards and committees. In Otago they could do with a smaller administration fund if an increased grants wore made tor school committees, but the same thing might not apply to other boards, and tli o committee had not thought it. fair to introduce the matter on that basis. But they did think that the Government wer© entitled to pay for the upkeep of schools. While education at tli© schools was in a sense “free, compulsory, and secular,” in one sense the education was far from free, since we had to pay sweetly for our schools. He thought the Government should, as fat as possible, meet these claims. At the same time he was of opinion that the school committees should n°t cease their efforts to raise money locally, as this was a big factor in increasing the interest of parents in a .school, and brought teachers, scholars, and parents together. At present, however, (the country schools could not raise money as they had been able to before the war, and their position was more difficult than that of the town schools. He thought the board should approach th© other boards, a n d ask them for support in asking the Government to give an increased grant for school committee) purposes. Mr J. Horn scco n aeu. He agreed that tho school committees should: l>e encouraged to hold entertainments, and also felt strongly that sufficient money Was not being given to the committees. An adequate allowance should b e placed at -their disposal. The chairman ,Mr D. T. Fleming) said that if the public purse had to bear all the cost, eliminating local assistance, the education bill would go up by leaps and bounds, so that the department should encourage local interest in the schools. The- report of the committee was adopted.