CORRESPONDENCE. THE COMING ELECTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 34, 8 March 1879, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE COMING ELECTION.

' £Otir correspondence column being o^ea no responsibility'can be accepted iv respect §f opinions* expressed by correspondents.] " '' v " '

•" TO THE EDITOE. Sib, —l hope you-will allow me space m your columns} to explain a few matters m connection -with, the Jjducatior^'Board, and to point out reasons "why committees m country/districts should elect a &ir. proportion, of Board members. 1 am informed that my, conduct .as a member of the Board during i tUe- i past.'ten months has been misinterpreted by-some school oommittees,. I am, accused of trying to establish district high 'schools at the expense of cqmmon schools.^ Now, Sir, I advocated ths right of country districts to hare high schools established m the various townships provided that parents were, willing to pay for higher education. I would here remark that f ees_ have to be paid m all district high schools, so that, the cost of a qualified teacher has not to be borne by the Board, but by parents arid guardians of the scholars. My object was to place higher education within reach of all at a minimum cost, instead of country settlers sending their ehfldreri to a boarding 'school at a cost of abqiit £70 p?r annum, as would' be the case if one high school ,was established in' this educational district, which was advoJcated by- some of the Wanganui members. JLw^puldiaßlc. what advantage £20 scholarships would be to children living m Manawafcri County if they bjtd to go to Wanganui. School? Who would pay the cost of ! bojardingfortwoorthrep year*.? Although j my motwri-was-strongly opposed, I am thankful;>to sajr that any school committoo may make with teachers for rhigher, edueaj;ion,. i Bo: > i that; children' can re■ceife the.r^lue, of^.anyiseholarahip? thoy mapr obtain^ wi&qut..Jea'yjtig.. their hoinea. With regard y to t^adjeH; soiwios, I may state that when the present-Board, .entered upon its duties it was a most,,'d s i(R6^lt' mat-' •ie^ to adjust a.,fair scale of salariee', as therq,' are,so iEgn.j. small schools, m this district, ;-and the reven'ue..lunited.;to-£v3lss .pertiead.,Some members 6f.,the Board were for blotv ting_ outall .schools where ilie attendance is less than twenty-five scholars, an^}. there, arc twenty Bue.b,.Bc.hQols ou^ of fortyrseven. It was moved by Wanganui members taat the full amount of capitation—i.e., £3 Iss. ppr head—should be paid as salary m small sclwols.'^ I th,en mpved: as an amendment

that it should be £4 per head; this was carried, although it was fiercely attacked by so. 110 of t'lo town members. After the experience of ton months' trial, I am satisfied that no mule teacher should be employed unless the Board can pity a salary at leant of £100 per annum. I should Have moved m this direction at the last meeting of the Board, only that 1 thought it might he interpreted as an attempt to catch votes for the election ; but if 1 am returned I shall take the earliest opportunity to do my best to have the regulations re-adjusted, so as to seouro this object. I consider that it is possible with the increased attendance at schools m large centres to do this without detriment to anyone, although it will require careful consideration, as the fund from which teachers' salaries are paid is at present overdrawn to the extent of £700. With regard to the cost of extra clerical assistance, I noticed that the newspapers condemned the oourse I adopted — viz., to charge the building fund with a fair proportion of cost of clerical work. I wish hero to explain the nature of the Board's f u*ids ; they are as follows : — The capitation fees form a general fund, from which teachei'3' salaries, allowances to committees for repairs to school properties, &c, printing and advertising, and m fact all the working expenses of the Board are paid. The building fund is provided for by special yates, for the purpose of erecting schopl-houses and toachord' residence ; and as the numerous works m hand, i.e., erection of new , buildings m some parts and additions to old buildings m others, caused so much, correspondence that an assistant secretary had to b,e. employed, I considered that part of suc;h cost could be fairly charged to this fund instead of charging it to the general fund,' whichj is heavily burdened already. The Government agreed to this proposal, ami I contend that it is as much a charge on the building fund as fcbe coat o£ plans and specifications of- any building could be. The next subject to which I wish to call the special attentipn of all is the constitur tjion of- the Bpard andttio representation, of this educational, district. The Board is composed of nine members, four of whom, reside m the Wangaiiui County, one m Patea, two m Rangitikei, and two m Manawatu. The three vacancies m the Board aro caused by the resignation of the member from Patea and the retirement of one from Rangifcikei and' onp. from Manawatu. The question is, who are to fill these vacaneics ? Wanganui County has been niodest enough to nominate four, candidates — Messrs. Baker, G-ane, God-win, and Noake — for the three seat 3, and will if- possible.havo throe of them elected, and if successful there "would be seven out of nine members residing m Wauganui County. I will not ask, Sir, if it is fair and just that one .County should send m all the members of the Board. If so, why not Manawatu try it, and elect nine persons from this County, aud have the meetings held m one of fclie townships within it ? — in fact, have the seat of administration altogether m this County. I do not think that it would be fair to do so, and I think that it is positively overbearing on the part of Wanganui to attempt to elect more members than they haye at present. The four candidates nominated by Wanganui may be all good men and true, but I would ask what would they know of the wants of country schools more than would be vaguely conveyed to them by letter ? I think that it wovdd be a most unwise thing to elect, any of the candidates from Wanganui. The country membei'3 of the Board have seen enough of the strong 'centralising tendency during the past ten months to cause them to place more confidence m their own strength than hi a Board wholly composed of residents m the Wanganui County. I consider that it is the duty of every committee to see that each, of the 'four counties is fairly represented on tlic •'Education Board. If one class of men do ;nbt givo satisfaction, let the committee call '^.upon them to resign, and choose other local .men to fill their places, but never allow one cpunty to usurp the rights and privileges of ,the_ofchers. — I am, &a., • H. Sansok.