THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1902. FREE EDUCATION.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 290, 2 December 1902, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1902. FREE EDUCATION.

Before every election one of the stock cries of many of the candidates is for "Free Education for our children right up to the Universities." That it is in many cases nothing more than an electioneering cry is abundantly evident in some instances. We have had the cry uttered in this electorate recently, but the speaker had no scheme to bring forward, and though a member of the Education Board, he did not seem to know that as far as Waimate was concerned, secondary education was free to all who had passed Standard VI in the primary school.

In respect to secondary education, jfche children of the Waimate, 4 Geraldine and Temuka districts have a very great advantage over those of Timaru. In those districts secondary education is entirely free, while in Timaru those desiring it have to pay some £lO per year to the High School. This is not an isolated case, as a similar state of affairs exists wherever there is a High School in the town. This is an anomaly that should not be allowed to exist. Places where the largest number of children require education should be the last where charges should be made for education. Two solutions of the difficulty have been suggested, and at times a hot warfare has waged between the

partisans of either proposal The Timaru Main School Committee ask that they should be allowed to turn their school into a District High School. This would mean that in respect of all pupils receiving secondary education a Government grant of £6 per head would be forthcoming, an amount which would enable the committee to purchase necessary materials and carry on the, High School division While looking upon District High Schools as the best form of school, we favour the other proposal: to make the Timaru High School free. The pupils at present number something like 100, and at £lO per year this produces £IOOO. The increase, if the school were free, would be very-little short of 100, and at £6 per year a greater income would be forthcoming. The school is veil fitted up, has all the appliances for teaching secondary subjects, and its teachers have been specially chosen for their ability to teach these. The school has a governing board of its own, and in the event of the institution being taken over by the Education Board they would still continue to act, occupying the same position as the Waimate High School Board in looking after endowments, etc. Certainly something should be done to give the large number of Timaru children the benefits of secondary education.

Concerning free university education, there is very little to say. The fees at our universities are small, averaging about £3 per subject per year. Even if these fees were abolished altogether, it would make little or no increase in the number of students. Anyone who was able to go to one of the larger centres and attend the Universities there, without fees, would not be very anxious to receive a university education if a matter of .£lO per year fees were to stop him. If a scheme were brought forward by which students could be assisted by the payment of their board, then the abolition of university fees would be desirable. We do not think that anyone in Waimate or any other country district would be beneiitted one whit by the university fees being done away with, and a source o* revenue to these institutions would be closed.