THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8296, 27 November 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1906.

The New Zealand Eduoational Institute will bold their next annual meeting in . Obristohurob in the early days' of the new year, fhe delegates from a distance will no doubt tatfe full advantage of the oppoituuities for reoreation afforded by tbe Exhibition, and a glance at the order paper suggests that if they go through it conscientiously they will deserve all the amusement they can secure. It is, indeed, a long and varied programme of matters for disaussiou, its thirty-eight items including eleven remits dealing with the administration of tbe Education Ao% three with tbe status and payment: of teachers, two with the syllabus, four "* with- tbe j übjeot ,of examinations, while eleven are grouped under the wide heading of "General." Considering all that bas been said about the syllabus, it Is surprisiag that it is attaoked at only two points—geography and drawing. Several remits deal with the Inspectors. It is ourioas to note that from the Canterbury district, in which the Education Board has always set its faoe most strongly against the centralising tendenoy noticeable <n education matters in late years, and where [the Inspector have bßen of a notably high standard, there should emanate a straight-out proposal that the Inspectorate should

be coi:tralised. Auckland also urges that in order to render the system of primary education a national >one, 'he Inspectors sbonld be under the Education Department. The proposal will certainly meet with the opposition of those who believe that there is already too great a tendency to deprive the Education Boards of tbje authority to which their intimate local knowledge fully entitles them. The payment and promotion of teaohers naturally'demands some attention, and a demonstration'may be expectedjagainst the unsatisfactory system of basins payment on the "average attendauoe" in the course of which, it is to b* hoped, a better system .will be indicated. The pres nt arrange ment is obviously only retained be cause no one has yet been able to devise one which while more equitable to the teachers will not add too greatly to tbe cost of education. The remits from Auckland and Taranaki bearing on the payment of the teachers of country sohools are sure of the sympathetic uonsideration they deserve. There is probably good reason for Auckland's pathetic recommendation that teachers' dwellings should be provided with the ordinary conveniences of life. The proposal for uniform Bohool holidays throughout the colony would not be. convenient, especially in some country distrlots where holidays ooinoidp, when possible, with farming operations in whioh children can, and do, take cart. The debate as to whether it is advisable to adopt the American spelling reform here should be a welcome light interlude in a programme that promises some long sittings and plenty of discussion.

An important; and interesting matter of reform in public affair* has been instituted in the State of New York under authority of the lan passed by the New York Legislature last winter, and which bids fair to constitute a model for other countries. The polioy adopted is that the highways of the State must be improved and maintained for public use in a fashion which will do oredit to public reputation. The plan is that the State will spend from 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 dollars, obtained by the issuing of bonds, in the improvement of the highways, and all the work Is to be done either by the State engineer or by oon>' tracts by him or under his super • vision. The State is to pay for the improvement, and will then collect half the cost from the various localities in the proportion of 35 | per cent, from the county and 15 | per cent, from the town in which I the improved xoad is situated. If the county does not desire to pay the proportion of the cost in cash, 'it may borrow the oredit of the State. 'lhe plan prepared by the State engineer involves the perfection of nearly eight thousand miles l of waggon roads, and it is esiti'mated that, the improvements will bring about an annual saving of nearly 38,000,000 dollars'.. When it is considered that thw difference in the cost of hauling goods over the best roads compared with poor roads is a very notable factur in local transportation, it is not difficult to see wherein the saving shows, la some of -tho Canadian provinces efforts have been made in the'same direction, bnt political considerations have hitherto prevented the oonsumtnotioii of any such plan, and the practice remains iu vogue of repairs to country roads being made by local men who receive a certain amount ot road money from the Government and employ local labour to do the work, the vhole thing being a good piece of political patronage carried out by men who know absolutely nothing of scientific road-making,- and whose work too often consists of shovelling mud up from the gutters by the waggon tracks and lotting it go at that. It is consequently hot prising that in the Bpriug ut the year when tho frost is gradually melting oat of the soil many of the provincial rnnds in Canada are impassably at ' more than a snail's race.