The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1914. THE EDUCATION BOUNDARIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 51, 21 July 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1914. THE EDUCATION BOUNDARIES.

The resolutions passed at last night's meeting regarding the proposed abolition of the Taranaki educational district leave no room for doubt as to the mind of New Plymouth upon the contemplated change. As the resolutions set forth, the boundaries can be .so adjusted as to provide for the retention of the headquarters of the Taranaki district in New Plymouth, with a comparatively equal proportion of school population and schools of various grades. Under the present .Bill there is not an equal distribution of schools and school population. For instance, tile proposed Egmont district (Taranaki and Wanganui) will have 18,732 pupils and 300 schools, against Hawke's Bay's !>7i!4 pupils and 1 .'l.'i schools, and Wellington's 10, MIS pupils and 170 schools. Canterbury will have an average attendance of 27,'*20 pupils at 371 schools, whilst Nelson, Marlborough and Westland, combined into one district, will only have 7G7!) pupils at 218 schools, and Southland 9555 pupils at 181 schools. There seems to have been, therefore, no guiding principle in the Minister's mind when he arranged the districts. The Education Commission proposed the reduction of the Boards to five, with provision for a fairly equal distribution of schools and school population Had this been adopted by the Minister there would have been less objection than to the proposal to cut out Taranaki and at the same time create another district with headquarters close to the Prime Minister's home. It will be noticed that the provincial districts of the North Island retain their boards —even Hawke's Bay, with its 133 schools—excepting unfortunate Taranaki, which, as usual, is side-tracked. The boundaries could easily have been arranged on a more satisfactory and equitable basis. As was urged at last night's meeting, the present Taranaki district could be enlarged to include the whole of the provincial district, substantial parts of which arc now administered by the Wanganui and Auckland boards, together with the adjoining counties of Awnkino and other South Auckland districts. There would then be no need for setting up a new district in the Waikato, which could, as now, lie advantageously administered from Auckland. Endeavors have for years past been made to have the southern part of Taranaki included in the Taranaki district, but without result. Now the. Government propose to take the extreme step of abolishing the Taranaki district and board. The only sop tended is the name "Egmont." The word "Wanganui" might provoke jealousy and opposition, and so Taranaki's sentinel is pressed into service. But the "concession" will not satisfy the. people of this district, who have a right to know why it is that its interests should be sacrificed in the flagrant way proposed. No province in New Zealand is developing more rapidly than Taranaki; none has greater resources and prospects; none is destined to carry a larger population; and no province has been or is more neglected by the powers that be. The Governments of the past ten years have shamefully treated Taranaki in practically every respect, but no past act of theirs equals that now proposed by the "Minister for Education. lie seeks to perpetrate what is nothing short of a rank injustices— more, an act of violation of the people's rights. And the public would be lacking in the duty they owe to themselves and their children and their children's children if they did not enter the most emphatic protest n«d seek by means in their power to haij Taranaki's interests safeguarded. fWanaki lias long ceased to enter into the calculations or consideration of the Government, especially where Auckland has fish to fry, but even tlie most complacent and long-suffering will turn some day and demand their rights, and, if we are not mistaken, the people of Taranaki will not tamely submit to this latest act of inconsideration and injustice. We hope "the members for the province, if they possess any inlluence—which events like the present make one sometimes doubt—will make it felt in the right quarters, and for once show that our interests must he preserved, if they cannot be advanced, 'it all costs.