The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1900. EDUCATION BOARDS ELECTION BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 191, 16 August 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1900. EDUCATION BOARDS ELECTION BILL.

A good deal of discussion is taking place in reference to a Bill which has been introduced into the Legislative Council by the Minister of Education, the Hon. W. O. Walker. It is entitled, " An Act to make better provision for the election of members of Education Boards." The measure contains 22 clauses, and a schedule is attached with the form of nomination paper, which must be sent in by members of committees when nominating candidates for vacancies on the Education Board. Doubtless all our readers are conversant with the system obtaining at present, by which each committee votes as a whole for the candidate or candidates decided upon by the majority vote of the members present, At the ordinary annual election of three members of the Board, each committee can only nominate two candidates and give one vote for each one the committee decides to vote for. Under the new Bill any number of candidates can be nominated, the election being conducted in the following manner. The members of each committee are to be known as electors, and not later than twenty-one days before the date of an election the returning officer, who for this purpose is the secretary of the Board, shall notify in a newspaper circulating in the education district, first the number of vacancies, and, secondly, the date on which the election of members will be held. Nominations may be made by any two members of a school committee, but such nominations will be illegal unless the consent of the person or persons ! nominated is received_by the returning officer before the time fixed for closing the nominations. The nominations are to close at 5 o'clock on the fourteenth day before the date of the election. Not later than the tenth day before the date of the election the returning officer must notify the number of candidates to be electsd, the names of each duly qualified candidate, and the day of the election and the hour on which the poll will be closed. Yoting papers are to be sent to the several chairmen of school committees, for the

use of the committeemen, at the same time as the notification of the election is made, and these are to be distributed to the members to enable them to exercise their votes before the day fixed for the election. The committeeman, on being supplied with his voting paper, may at on:e exercise his vote forthwith, and at once post it hims9lf or deliver it to the returning officer with the words marked outside " Voting Paper." In the case of committees where members reside in places difficult of access, provision is made so that if their voting paper shows the post-mark of a date not later than the day fixed for the election, their votes will be accepted should they reach the returning' officer not later than the tenth day after the election has closed. Each elector or committeeman has the right to exercise votes up to the number of members to be elected, i.e., if there are three vacancies and seven candidates are nominated, each individual committeeman can give one vote for any number of candidates up to three. In other words, ten committees of seven members each could oast 70 votes for any individual candidate, and it would be necessary for a candidate to secure 36 votes to secure eleotion. Yery strong exception has been taken to this. The Haiohe's Bay Herald, in an article on the subject, says: " Without criticising the clumsiness with which the Bill has been drawn, and the dangers looming ahead owing to ambiguity, W6 would point out it proposes, apparently, to give a very unfair advantage to the country as compared with the towns. It is recognised the world over that population and representation should go together, and democracy has shouted itself hoarse to obtain this twin brother and sister of representative government." After a comparison of committees affected the Herald goes on to say " Committees with a dczen childron under their control cm txercise a power in the election of members equal to a committee having 1000 children under its management. Large and populous towns like Auckland or Wellington have more than one member to represent them in the Hous9, and yet the school committees with large responsibilities are to be curtailed and brought down to the level of the authority of the small school committees in an education district. It may suit the whims of the Central Department of Education, but surely it is a whim that is by no means the outcome of experience and simple justice. Uiider the proposed Bill it would be possible for the small school committees in Hawke's E y, and for tt at matter in ■very other district, to control the election of members of the Board, i Juiier proper organisation an association of committees for school■■i h a school attendance below 100 children could run the educations machinery iu the whole of ths colony, tor certaiuly the vast majority of , tcnoole havu u entailer abundance than

the uutiibT we have named. Wean Isiiro Unit tho iJui). the Minister of tiluca'ion never intended to do a i hi jig | of this tort-, but he is clearly ignorant of the administrative working o! Jiiards ind committees under thn present Act." Now, tbe curious thing about i bis : criticism is that tbe principle is exactly the tame as that contained in the i re- , stjat Ask, Hhi«h eur wqts^psiar^j:

makes not the slightest suggestion as unfair. The object of the Ministers is to broaden the basis of representation. Under the present Act ten Committees of five members each, representing an average attendance of 15 children at each school—a total of 150 childrencan poll ten voteß, as against three votes given by the New Plymouth, Inglewood, and Btratford Committees, representing 27 committeemen and, roughly, one thousand children. In spite of that, no one dares contend that the members of the country committees are not just as good judges of the fitness of candidates who offer themselves for seats on the Board of Education as the members of the town committees. If Education Boards are to continue, and their existence is a very doubtful blessing to the community, the members should be elected by the householders, though this, on the other hand, would] give, the towns too much say in thej election of members of the Board. The best remedy, in our opinion, would be to abolish Educitiun Boards and enlarge the powers of the local committees, placing Inspectors and teachers under the control of the Education Department.