107

1.—13 a.

G. HOGBEN.j

clause 51 (4). Definition of " Director " : Omit the word " appointed " in both places. Under the Public Service Act. 1912, the Director and the Assistant Director would both be appointed by the Public Service Commissioner. Definition of '" Inspector": Delete the words "person appointed to be an " : Inspectors of the Department are also appointed by the Public Service Commissioner. Definition of " registered " : Delete, and substitute the following definition : " ' Registered sel I ' means a school registered under this Act. whether such school is a public school, secondary school, technical high school, endowed school, or a school under the Education Department, or a school registered in accordance with section 129 thereof.'' This for the sake of clearness. Definition of "secondary school " : Omit the words "' District high school or technical high school," which were inserted here in error. Clause ii. The effect of this would be to interfere with the mode of payment of salaries of officers of the Department, which is now regulated by the Public Service Act. 11)12. and by the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1913. Some such amendment as the following is required at the beginning of the clause : -New subclause (1), as follows : " (1.) The salaries of the officers of the Department shall be paid as provided by law." The present subclause (1) will then become subclause (2) ; and in line 13, after the word " moneys," should be inserted the words " other than the salaries of the officers of the Department " ; and in line 17, paragraph (a), the words " salaries and " should be deleted. I propose to consult the Crown Law Draftsman as to whether this provides the effect desired. Paragraph (b) : It was pointed i ut with some justice by Mr. Bell, Secretary to the Southland Education Board, and Mr. Crawshaw, representing the Hawke's Bay Education Board, that the effect of taking away a fixed sum of £250 and of giving a general grant of 1 Is. per annum on the average attendance would be that in districts containing a large number of small schools the Boards, although not absolutely in a worse financial position than before, would be in a comparatively worse position than the Boards in districts having a smaller proportion of small schools and a larger proportion of large schools. I therefore suggest that subparagraph (iii) be amended by changing the words *' eleven shillings " to " five shillings," and by inserting after the word " district " the following words : " and, in addition thereto, of a sum calculated for all the public schools in the district in accordance with the Schedule hereto " ; also by deleting the word " quarterly " in both places. There would be a consequential amendment in clause 34, paragraph (b), to the following effect : By deleting all the words after the word " calculating," and substituting the following words: " for all the public schools in the district in accordance with the Schedule hereto." The schedule will be a new schedule to follow the present Eighth Schedule in the Bill. SCHEDUI.i-:. Scale on which, for all the Schools in each Education District, the Minimum Aggregate Amount of Grants to School Committees for Incidental Expenses is to be calculated. Average Attendance. Rate per School. 120 .. . . .. 10s. per head of the average attendance. 21 35 .. .. £10, together with Bs. per head of the average attendance over 20. 36 120 .. .. . . £16, together with ss. per head of the average attendance over 35. 121 400 .. .. £38, together with 4s. per head of the average attendance over 120. Over 400.. .. .. £94, together with 3s. per head of the average attendance over 400. The aggregate amount calculated on this scale for all the districts on last year's attendance is £45,529. The aggregate amount in the Bill for the minimum total of the grants to School Committees at 6s. per head is £45,174, so that the new proposal gives an increase of £355, and the corresponding grants to the Boards with,the -"is. per head added gives the same increase of £355 over the amount proposed in the Hill of I Is. per head. The deletion of the winds " quarterly " removes the objection made by the Wanganui Board to the additional work entailed by using the quarterly instead of the yearly average attendance for estimating tin- amounts due to Boards, although it may be said that the amount of additional work involved would be very small and would fall entirely on the Department. Clause B.—Paragraph (c) : To meet the objection made by several witnesses that the representation of the Inspectors on the Council is overlooked, although this was not intended, the following words after the word " Department " might be inserted : " who shall be an Inspector." Clause 9. —Subclauses (3) and (4) : Subclause (3) was to avoid necessary expense of elections to fill casual vacancies. That, however, would not be very great, and the subclauses might lie replaced by the following : — " (3.) Every casual vacancy shall be filled by the person or body by whom the retiring member was appointed or elected. " (4.) In case any appointing or electing body fails to appoint or elect within sixty days after the vacancy has occurred the vacancy shall be filled by the Minister." Clause II. —Subclause (2), Paragraph (b): It was objected that the Education Board of the district might have no representative on the District Council. Accordingly I suggest that the words " of the General Council of Education " should be deleted. ( lause 12.—The Public Service Act and Regulations already provide a scale of travelling-expenses for officers of the Public Service, and this clause seems to conflict therewith. Accordingly it should