SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4381, 5 April 1875, Page 2

SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Sir, —In your issxie of the 25th inst. I find that Mr. Bunny, on behalf of the Provincial Governmnent, informed the Education Board that assistance would be given towards the erection and completion of schoolhouses and residences within the province.

This is especially gratifying to those who have had to live for a considerable period in barns and shaky buildings as school residences : but when we glance at the strides made in this direction by Canterbury and Otago, one is almost ashamed to acknowledge he belongs to Wellington. However, better late than never; and we may now live in the hope that something certain will be done towards the completion of school buildings in the out-districts of the province. Owing to the meagre attendance of members for outdistrlots at the Education Board, the few members residing in "Wellington have had to transact the business of the province, and, having the reins in their hands, do not forget the districts they represent. : During the last session of the Provincial Council the question as to providing for the out-districts, where the population is sparse, elicited attention; and I believe the Provincial Secretary, on behalf of the Government, promised to consider the matter during the recess, with the hope of amending the Act in this direction. Since the Act of 1871 came into force, t fail to see any important change for the better in the out-districts that was not carried out by the school committees appointed under the former Act, with an efficient Inspector of Schools; and if the school rates were handed over to the committee, as the grant in aid was under the old Act, schoolhouses and residences for teachers would have been long since erected, as no salaries or travelling expenses would be incurred. But under the Acts of 1871 education and highways became centralised, and local self-go-vernment was virtually abolished ; and tliis, I believe, is the rock upon which Provincial Governments will be wrecked. With a National Education Act looming in the distance, wo may hope that outdistricts will at last receive some attention, and that school committees will again bo placed in the position they formerly occupied, and not as the nominees of a Board or a Government, but as the representatives of the people.—l am, &c., A Settler.