EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1920, Page 8

EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

VENTILATED IN THE HOUSE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 3. When the report ol' the Education Department was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday, some members took advantage of the opportunity to talk of educational matters. They had complaints to make about inadequate incidental allowances, heavy charges for school books, and the centralisation of authority, to the disadvantages of school committees. Country members, including Mr. R. Masters (Stratford) and Mr. W. T. Jennings (Waitomo), protested that teachers were not properly housed in the hackblocks districts, and suggested the provision of movable residences. They cited the case of a married teacher and his wife forced to live in the shelter shed of a school. r The Minister for Education (Mr. Parr) suggested that members should be patient. The war necessarily had restricted expenditure on education and delayed the undertaking of important works, He was trying now to overtake the arrears of building, and so forth, and was working on a plan intended to cover a period of years. Everything that was admitted to be necessary could not he dor.p. in a single year. Some school committees found the incidental allowances insufficient, and other committees could save money. He thought that something more might be allowed the committees on the Supplementary Estimates.