8.—14

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90. When vacancies occur in any of your schools have you any difficulty in finding female pupil-teachers : there is no dearth of girls ? —Not at all; we have plenty of girls. 91. The state of things exists here that you have more applicants than what you can find employment for ? —I think so. I know there is no difficulty in getting them. 92. Beturning to the question of the household schools, are you aware of any of the teachers there who are members of the family receiving instruction ? —I think there may be one case in the Sounds where there is a daughter teaching, or there may be two; I cannot speak from personal knowledge. 93. You have expressed the opinion that a teacher in a small school, teaching the whole of the standards, has as much work to perform, and in many instances more, than the assistant of a larger school, who receives, very often, a larger salary ?—Yes, that is my opinion, as I expressed it before. 94. Would it be practicable to employ a steam-launch in order to bring those families into one centre—to centralise them ?—No, I do not think so. 95. If the Board considered the expediency of adopting a system that prevailed in parts of the Old Country at one time of having what is called a " hedge " schoolmaster, travelling round from place to place, how would that do?—I do not think it would be practicable. 96. You do not see any way of remedying the present state of affairs except by increasing the allowance to those "aided" schools?— That is the only remedy—money. 97. Mr. Stewart.] I understand, Captain Baillie, with regard to this question of separating your public school into two divisions —a boys' and girls' —that not so very long ago your Board endeavoured to have that matter remedied, but that the School Committee objected, and you gave way ? —When the school was first established both the sexes were taught together, a matter of fifteen years ago. 98. The question never came before your Board a second time ?—No; the question was this : Supposing there were 400 children in the school on which we were paid a capitation grant, the School Committee brought it forward that, the school being divided into two, a boys' and girls', they really got a capitation from the two —say there were 250 in one case and 150 in the other, they were entitled to capitation on the scale which was laid down. 99. So that the School Committee really made a rise out of it ?—Yes. I may state, in conclusion, that a member of the Board receives no emolument, no travelling-expenses, or allowances in any way. Bichard McCallum, Member of the Marlborough Education Board. 100. The Chairman.] The Commission will be very pleased to hear anything you may have to say with regard to this proposed colonial scale of staff and salaries ?—I understand, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, that this document is a suggestion from the Inspector-General, and I may say, on behalf of the Marlborough Education Board, that we are prepared to accept the scheme as detailed by Mr. Hogben. Of course, we think it might be improved slightly in order to meet the exigencies of Marlborough. This schedule is distinctly in advance of what we have been paying. The complaint here among many of the Board school-teachers is that the large centres of population have to pay for the smaller ones; practically we maintain the aided schools at the cost of the larger centres of population, such as Blenheim, Picton, Springlands, and Grovetown. Ido not see why the principle should not be extended in order to bring the whole under one colonial scale, fixing the teachers' salaries on a wider basis. Why should not Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, and Christchurch also contribute equally with the above to maintain the schools in this district ? To be logical, if Blenheim has to maintain these other schools, why should not Wellington and the other provinces combine to assist the smaller schools, and also Blenheim indirectly, although Blenheim is a school of 500 ? The Marlborough Education Board has always attempted to give education to the children of poor people living in localities away from a school; if the children could be sent to any Board school, or aided school, the Board has invariably insisted upon that course. If you look at the map (Sounds map), where there are about thirty aided schools, you will see that it is impossible to have one, two, or three schools to cope with the children in the district. There is not a single aided school solely for the benefit of children of wealthy men. The Board's policy has been to assist the struggling settlers, to encourage people to go out and live in these wilds, and to cultivate their farms, and our appeal to you from the Marlborough Board is that we do not wish you to interfere with the system of aided schools in the Marlborough District. You may make it a separate part of your scheme if you like, but we ask you not to impair the usefulness of the scheme we have established. No doubt the other teachers have just cause of complaint against us, because our scale is the lowest in the colony, but that is on account of our giving education to the children of these settlers. If some scheme is evolved by these proceedings there is no doubt something should be done in the way of raising the salaries of the teachers. The extra capitation of ss. would no doubt help, but it would by no means meet the difficulty. By payment on a colonial basis there will be a chance of meeting the difficulty. In regard to members of families being employed as teachers in these small schools, there is no doubt a regulation should be framed emphasizing the need for distinction in the appointments to these schools. I do not say that the Board has always insisted upon the non-employ-ment of a member of a family. It seems to me to be very objectionable, a member of a family receiving employment, and should not be done unless there was something special to justify it. Our Board has set its face very strongly against the employment of a member of the family in these small schools. As regards the grant in the past, it has not been sufficient either for building or for the ordinary work of the Board. When I joined the Board some four years ago it had got to the length of its tether, and was face to face with the position of asking for an overdraft. We have never in this district, as in the case of Wellington, for example, expended any of our money