The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1738, 25 August 1883, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or politir il. Here slnll the Press the People's, ri^h' maintain, Unawrd by influence and unbnbed by gain.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2S, 1883

The Auckland Board of Education has of late brought itself rather prominently before the public, not only of the district over -which this somewhat eccentric body enjoys jurisdiction, but, in a measure, of the whole colony. In these dull days, when the pioceedings of Parliament are as flat and unprofitable as they can well be, and when there is a general dearth of exciting topics, the peculiarities of the Auckland Board of Education, ostentatiously exhibited as they have been, have created no little diversion, and, we make no doubt, have saved the lives of many a hopeless dyspeptic. We can afford to join in the universal merriment up to a certain point, but beyond that the subject becomes too serious to jest about. We are, indeed, too much concerned for the wellbeing of the high interests involved to 1 ingh when these arc in danger. And the board has recently giwn nnmistak cable evidence that as at present constituted it realty is not lit to carry out the work entrusted to it. So far as an outsider can judge, the board seems to have resolved itself into a Society for Experimentalising on Education, and its members have apparently forgotten, or would forget if it were not for the myriads of applications for pecuniary assistance showered upon them every month by poverty-stricken school committees, that they arc an administrative body at all. To what extent, the creation of this new order of tilings is duo to tho chairman, the public can judge for themselves. Wo havu no particular fault to find with Mr Laishley— flint, ho is at bottom honestly desirous of doing- something for Ids country we do not doubt. Like ] s ums, who wished that he, for his country's huk< , "some useful plan or book might make, or sing a sang at least," Mr Laishley is not particular so long 1 as lie i& permitted to accomplish something which will cause hie* name to live in history and keep his memory green in the minds of future generations. All this is very laudable of course, and if Mr Laishloy wero content to elaborate and perfect his scheme in the retirement of his study, we believe that in time he would evolve something 1 that would be eminently practical and useful, even if it did not prove a panacea for all the ills to which education is heir. But we take leave to question very much whether the boardroom is the proper place for the consideration of the details of such a scheme. Much that is unsatisfactory in the j> r oeedure of the board proceeds not from any want of earnestness in. the members of it, but from the circumstance that it is not representative in its character. It is composed for the most part of city men, imbued with local ideas and prejudices. We say this without any disrespect, because- we know that there are among the number men of sound judgment and intelligence. But the district over whose educational interests they keep watch and ward is too large to be governed efficiently by any set of men who belong to the centre from which the authority radiates. To some extont the members of the present board thomsolvos recognise the force of this assertion, and in their determination to increase the powers of the local committees they liavo gone some length towards remedying what the}' are bound to recognise as an evil. But of course they cannot transfer any of the powors conferred on them by the Education Act to tJio committees, nor is it desirable that they .should bo enabled by special legislation to do so. The conclusion then at which we arrive is that the educational district of Auckland should bo subdivided into two districts, the now district to embrace the southern portion of the province, and to have its head quarters in Waikato. This it appears to us, is one of the necessities of the near future. If it be necessary for the efficient administration of the education system that the district of Timaru shall remain a separate district, or that Wanganui shall continue to be cut oft' from the remainder of the provincial district of Wellington, then it is of the highest importance that the large and important district in the interior of this island should bo endowed with liko privileges. We are not in "sympathetic accord" with Auckland on the subject. Their ways are not as our ways. And yet we are compelled for obvious reasons to make Auckland men our representatives. This is an anomaly which cannot surely be permitted to last very long, and the sooner it is removed the better.