CHEAPER BOOKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 926, 20 March 1930, Page 7

CHEAPER BOOKS

SCHOOL COMMITTEES’ PROTEST M.P.’S TO BE CIRCULARISED Calling attention to the poor quality and high price of school books which lie produced at last evening’s meeting of the Auckland Primary School Committees’ Association, Mr. C. J. Lovegrove, St. Hellers, advocated the printing of books by the Government Printing Office. Mr. Lovegrove sponsored a remit urging that the Education Board and Education Department should ’have their attention drawn to exhorbitant prices that parents were called upon to pay for school books and that the association should take steps to remedy j the injustice. ! It was Air. Lovegrove’s opinion that 1 the books were fiimsily bound for obvi--1 ous reasons. They were more than ; twice the price at whicn they could be 1 produced. It was no use passing a resolution and sending it on to be forgotten. The subject should be thrashed out i*i Parliament and a circular letter a-f luainting them with the position should be sent to all members , of Parliament. 1 Seconding the remit, the Rev. F. ! Greenwood, Morrinsville, expressed the opinion that other interests were preventing earlier requests for cheaper books from getting a fair hearing. The acting chairman, Air. G. E Spooner, explained that the fault was really that of the department. The department should have compiled the subject matter and called tenders foi the printing. Publishers had been invited to supply books in accordance with the syllabus. The meeting was strongly in favour of the remit and it was suggested that > a deputation should wait on the Alinis- : ter of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore It was decided to circularise the members of Parliament and a further suggestion was that samples of the books should be sent out with the let- » ters. Air. Lovegrove guaranteed that ■ the money would be forthcoming tc 1 carry out the remit should the association not be prepared to meet the expense.