43

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(i. I). BBAIK. !

Clause 56, Compulsory Education : Subclause (1) —The school age should be raised to fifteen. Where pupils over school age are allowed by the Committees to attend and are on the school roll the compulsory clauses should apply. It should also be compulsory for a child to attend the school nearest his place of residence, unless the Committee grants a transfer to another school. Clause 57 : Subclause (1) —Exemptions should only be granted by the head teachers or the Board. Subclause (2) —The proviso is absurd. What can the Senior Inspector know about every pupil in the district ? Clause 59, subclause (1) : A fine of 2s. for a week's absence is insufficient. It should be 2s. for each non-attendance. Clause 68 : Except subclause (1) it seems unnecessary, as the sending of more than one name to a Committee where grading is equal is provided for in clause 67, subclause (7). Clause 75, subclause (8): The salary for a relieving teacher should be specially provided by the Department. Clause 78, proviso : Service should terminate on the 31st December, otherwise a new teacher would not receive any salary till March, and in the case of trainees from the training college this would be a great hardship, especially as the teacher who had really left would actually get an increment when not in the service. Besides, it is necessary that a teacher should intimate at the beginning of December his intention to leave the service, otherwise it is impossible to fill the vacancy till March, as it is not possible always to communicate with teachers during the holidays as to accepting a transfer. Clause 79 : There has been considerable difficulty at times in deciding what portion of the school glebe a teacher is entitled to, and to make the matter clear the words " by the Board " should be inserted in the last line of the clause after the word " use." Clause 85, subclause (1) : As the Board controlling the Wanganui Girls' College is under special Act defined as the Wanganui Education Board, what will happen if the name of that Board is abolished and " Egmont " substituted ? Why should the School Committees of the rural districts in the ward in which the secondary school is situated not have a representative ? Clause 86, subclause (4) : Unless the words " or by the Education Board which has control of such school "be inserted serious trouble will be occasioned in the Wanganui District. In Wanganui a Technical College has been built on loan at a cost of £10,000. This building is used for a Technical High School, for technical classes at night, for teachers' instruction classes (especially in science), for primary-school working classes, and other such purposes. Some of the instructors assist at the evening classes, and others assist in the District High Schools vocational classes. It is only by combining the work that the great strides taken in this district in agricultural and other scientific work can be carried out satisfactorily on the grants paid by the Department, and if the control of the institution is taken from the Board everything but the secondary work will be entirely at the mercy of the Board of Managers, and the cohesion now existing would be destroyed. The difficulties the Board have now with the Palmerston Technical School in connection with the woodwork and cookery classes from the primary schools are quite sufficient to show what would happen in Wanganui. The Wanganui Board has elaborated a scheme for the local management of technical schools which has placed the Wanganui Education District in a pre-eminent position so far as technical education is concerned. The Board has technical schools at Eltham, Hawera, Patea, Wanganui. Marten, Bull's, Feilding, Hunterville, Taihape, Apiti, and Pohangina, and has recently established classes at Rangiwahia, Kimbolton, Waituna, Rongotea, and Foxton. The fees paid, according to the Minister's report for 1912, totalled £1,040 against £1,109 in Auckland with three times the population, and donations totalled £1,789 against £1,087 for Auckland. No other Board came within cooee of these totals. When it is remembered that Palmerston is not included in these totals, for although it is within the education district the Technical School is under the control of the High School Board of Governors, the result is even greater than it appears. The Education Board has endeavoured to inculcate self-reliance in technical education with considerable success, but the proposals in the Bill will absolutely destroy this, and introduce an isolated system of management instead of a comprehensive system of local government assisted by the local residents. Members of the Committee have only to look at Table Fl of the Education Report of 1912 to see the position at a glance. It is impossible to contemplate without regret the breaking-up into separate and possibly conflicting Units a system of district education that has been built up by the expenditure of so much pains and foresight. There should be provision for the establishment of agricultural high schools instead of technical high schools in districts where this is possible. If Boards are to pay over all the capitation for technical schools, who shall pay the management expenses to the Boards ? At the present time the Wanganui Education Board has to finance the salaries of instructors in the technical schools to the extent of thousands of pounds until the Department pays the capitation. Will a body like the proposed Managers do that, or will the Boards be expected to finance these bodies ? Directors or supervisors who are at present partly engaged in technical work are not provided for in the measure. There will also be an embargo on the present system of technical schools in small centres assisting in the pioneering technical classes in the backblocks. How are these charges to be met ? No provision is made for the organizing work of instructors in the country districts. Clause 92, proviso : A parent should give a guarantee that a pupil will continue his studies for at least a year, at any rate as long as teachers are paid out of capitation, or the existing anomaly of a reduction of revenue in the middle of the year without any alteration in payments to teachers will continue. Clause 93 : Why should holders of certificates of competency be compelled to pay fees while holders of certificates of proficiency are not, especially in the case of lads taking i he agricultural course or girls taking the domestic science course ? Clause 104, Technical Education : The Education Board should be the controlling authority of every technical high school or technical school established by it.