TRAINING THE YOUNG LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 119, 20 May 1912, Page 8

TRAINING THE YOUNG LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL

ITS INFLUENCE ON EDUCATION. BOARD REPRESENTATIVES IN CONFERENCE. A conference of delegates representing the various Education Boards of New Zealand was held to-day for the purpose of considering the sections of the Local Government Bill which bear on education. Th© conference was. called at tho instance of the chairman, of the North Canterbury Education Board who desired that united action be taken in an endeavour to maintain the present sys-, tern. The following attended: — Wellington, Messrs. R. Lee, W. Allan, and J. G. W. Aitken ; Auckland, Mr. G< G. Garland; Taranaki, Mr. A. Morton, Wanganui, Mr. F. Pirani ; Hawkes Bay," Mr. W. Morgan; Nelson, Major Frank-! lyin and Mr. Maginnity ; Giwy, Mr. H^ J. Bignell; North Canterbury, -Messrs. N. Dalziell and H. Langford ; - Otago, JSeeers. J. Mitchell and I>. T. Fleming: Ktr. Dalziell was appointed chairman.,Mr. Dalziell said that the delegates: nad not assembled to discuss any personal interest. They were there to discuss the local Government Bill which proposed to set up a new system of local Government. The North Canterbury Board was strongly of the opinion that Education should stand apart ,and tho cost provided out of the consolidated fend and not out of local revenue. The neglect of education would have an effect which would be handed down- from generation to generation. Education, in, its essence, wae far removed from the ordinary functions of local bodies. The. Bill proposed to take the power of election out of the school committee* hands — and consequently out of the parents' hands. If it could be shown clearly that the administratior of Education Boards at the present time stood in the way of a more efficient system they ■would have to review their attitude, but no such data had been put forward. Personally, he was- convinced that the system would suffer through a change, tinder the rating proposed, in- the Bill it appeared to him that an injustice might be done to new educational districts. Representation, so fax as educational matters were concerned, was at present based on the number of children to be trained, but the Bill proposed to put it on a property basis. He submitted that this was a retrograde step. . He claimed that a wrong impression had been, created in regard to ~the cost of administration. ... After this preliminary statement, Mr. Stuart (secretary of the Wellington Board) was appointed secretary of tha conference. ' INVITING A MINISTER. In reply "to a question, the Chairman, •aid that the Education Department had not been asked to send a representative to the conference. Mr. W. Allan then moved — "That a representative of the department be invited to attend, and that the conference adjourn until he is present." The Chairman also suggested that the Minister of Internal Affairs might bo invited. Mr. Pirani said the conference was not called to deal with a question of administration — if it had been he would be glad to ccc a * representative of the department present. They were there to discuss proposed legislation, and did not require any interference from the department. H« could understand a Wellington man inviting a representative, because Wellington always had the- department at its heels. He ventured the ©pinion, that the Minister of Education -was ac strongly opposed to the Bill as anyone in the community. Mr. Maginnity (Nelson) maintained that it would simply be ordinary courtesy toj , invite a Miniater to bo present. The Minister of Education should be invited. Other delegates took up a similar attitude, and it was eventually agreed to invite the Minister of Education (the Hon. J. A. Hanan) to be present. LEGAL CRUDITIES. Mr. Maginnity stated that he did not *rffih to be dictatorial, but an opportunity presented itself to the majority of the members of the conference to meet privately, and their conclusions had been put in writing. In a perusal of the Bill, they discovered some curious anoma^, lies. The Bill had been very crudely drawn. Later he hoped to have an opportunity of referring to some of these crudities. CHIEFLY UNDECIDED. The conference appeared to be undecided as to what it should do. Pending the receipt of a reply from ths Minister as to whether he could attend a proposal to adjourn was made. One delegate suggested going on, but another urged that courtesy dictated waiting till the arrival of the Minister. The tabling o£ certain proposed resolutions ended the difficulty. It was decided to have these typed and the conference adjourned. tBl 11 o'clock. When the conference resumed it was iafcimated by the secretary that the Minister would be unai>le to attend twing to pressure of departmental duties. "FRAUGHT WITH DANGER" Mr. Maginnity moved — That this conference of the Education Boards of the Dominion, while refraining from any expression of opinion upon the general provisions of the Local Government Bill, respectfully urges that the inclusion of education within the scope of the measure is fraught with serious danger to the education system. He said he thought it was a general consensus of opinion that education was so vitally divergent from any other subject coming within the scope of a 'Local Government Bill that it would be a great mistake to depart from, the present system. One of the great anomalies of the Bill was that there was no mention in the Bill for the number of people who were to form a committee undei the provincial councils. Further, the provincial council was entitled to appoint three members of the committee, and they might be men who did not take the slightest interest in education. He claimed that it would be unwise and unpopular to determine the present system.* One of the strong points of the present system was that the government of the schools was in the hands of the parents. Had anything transspired to show that th*t system was a bad one? What was to take the place of the boards? From their own knowledge of the composition of provincial councils they could almost say that ttfey -would not include one gentleman who . was specially and particularly interested in education, and had been so ever since the introduction of the present system. Certainly therfi was a need for a better system cf local government, but in any measure brought forward the provisions of the Bill should not trench on the question of education. He had no deEve to reflect on tho ability of men ■who might be elect* d to the provincial councils, but he ventured to suggest that they would, on the whole, be more interested in roads and bridges than the question of education. "ON THE WAY TO RUSSIA." Major Fraakfyn (Nelson) seconded the motion. The new spirit of innpya-

I tion had taken possession of New Zea- [ land. He was surprised to see a demo- | oratic Government going so fast. The. people of New Zealand had not asked 1 for the change and when the argument was advanced that education boards were, a source of great expense, it had to remember that the great majority of members of boards gave their services gratuitously. The present Government was not responsible for the Bill— it bore the imprint of Sir Joseph Ward, one of the greatest Conservatives of the age, 1 despite what he might preach. Major Franklyn was proceeding on tnese lines when he. was requested not to introduce politics. - Proceeding, he said we were "on the way to Russia" and he objected to centralisation of authority in Wellington. PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Mr. Langford (North Canterbury), declared that the proposal was one to' put aside a national Bystem of education for a mere experiment. If this proposal were put into effect it would be the death knell of the national system, and it would further mean the subsidising of private schools. "The only thing that we can stand by,"- he said, "is tie maintenance of th© present national system which must be kept entirely apart from any local body. It behoves us to stand firm on this question and resent any change." Mr. Morton (Taranaki) agreed with the previous speaker. Nothing good could be said of the education" proposals in the Bill IN THE DARK. Mr. Fisher (Southland) stated that his board had no opportunity of considering the proposals of the North Canterbury Education Board. That being,, so he claimed, the passing of the motion would declare further than the conference was entitled to go. The resolution would not represent the deliberative opinion of the Education Boards. Mr. Pirani : Did you not- -get the Local Government Bill. Mr. Fisher: Yes. v Mr. Pirani: Then why did you not consider it? We got it months ago. ' Mr. Fisher : That in not everything. Mr. Maginnity said the Nelson delegates were not suffering from the same disability as Mr. Fisher. . They were the duly-appointed delegates of the board.' Other delegates had been similarly appointed. If Mr. Fisher was in doubt 'he could abstain from voting. Me. Allan (Wellington) stated that he wae under the impression that this was a duly-constituted conference. Mi". Fisher did not proceed further with the discussion. • Mr. Bignell (Grey) heartily supported the motion, and read resolutions passed by the Grey Board in condemnation of the BilL , , A COMIC OPERA. Mr. Garland (Auckland) viewed with alarm the first appearance of the Bill, but it was afterwards looked upon in the light of a Gilbert and Sullivan farce. "We know what we have got," he said. il The people know what they hay« got. They have tried the system for thirtyfive years, and it has served them well. Until we get something more comprehensive — something that will better take its place — we had better stick to what we have got, a. system of free secular and compulsory education." x - LATE ARRIVAL ASKS A QUESTION Mr. W. M'Alifiter (Southland), who arrived at this stage, said he was appointed by the Education Board to attend this conference, and by a delegation of 'representatives of local bodies to attend the general conference on the Bill to-morrow. That being so, th« delegates who had to attend the general conference were placed in an awkward position. He -wished to keep his mind open, and not to have sections of the Bill judged beforehand. He wished to have a free hand, and. to be able to say that he was in', a position to discuss all sections of the Bill: Mr. Garland: I suppose you want to see <tbe 'Bill passed in its present form, Mr. M'Alister: I don't Know who you are, but your assumption is quite unwarranted. Mr. Maginnity rose, and said the delegates would be in uo way pledged by any resolutions passed by this conference. If Mr. M'Alister's position -was a delicate one he could abstain from voting. Mr. M'Alister said that it might be as well if he took the hint' and left the conference. He explained that if he were not a delegate to the general conference he would support the motion. Other persons present were not delegates to the general conference. • Mr. J. Mitchell (Otago) said that the Education Boards as a whole would not be widely represented on the general conference, and the present conierence was called with a view to getting an adequate expression of opinion of the Education Boards. . '' MINISTERIAL ATTITUDE. Mr. Pirani (Wanganui) said that he knew for a fact that many delegates who would attend the general conference would strongly . oppose education being included in the scope of the BilL "The Minister of Internal Affairs," he added, "told me -himself that he did not intend to persevere with the clauses in the Bill relating to education." Mr. M'Alister would accordingly find himself in very good company. He did not think there was an Education Board in the country that could support the BilL Mr. Maginnity's motion was carried on the voices. SEPARATE ADMINISTRATION Mr. Langford moved — That the administration, of, education is so widely divergent in character from all the other subjects embraced in- the BUI, and is of itself of such importance, as to call for separate axknmistration by boards specially chosen for the important work. Mr. Maginnity seconded the motion. Mr. Pirani moved as an addition by way of amendment, "And that any amendment of the Act be in the direction of establishing a Central Ceuncil of Education (with the. Minister as president), and to which shall be entrusted the functions at present earned out by the Departonont." The council should consist of experts, who would meet and decide on the system to be followed, instead of methods being dictated by the permanent officials. No system could be fairer, more popular, or more efficient than a Central Council of Education. The proposal was one worthy of tho attention of the boards. The Chairman thought it would be well to confine the deliberations of the •conference to subjects touched on in th« Bill. The matter might be discussed at a later stage. Mr. Pirani intimated his willingness to adopt this suggestion. The motion was carried on' the voices. PARENTAL CONTROL Mr. Maginnity (NeUon) moved — ■That the transfer of the adminJs tration of education from boards closely in touch with parents, and specially elected for the important work, to councils charged with a variety of other and widely divergent functions, would lead to diminished efficiency without securing any economy of cost. Mr. Pirani said it appeared to him that the placing of education iv the hands of provincial councils was designed to do away with the friction which now took place between come Education Boards and the permanent department. The main work of educa-

tkra would be grasped by the department. The motion was carried unanimously. AFTERNOON SITTING. On resuming after the luncheon adjournment, Mr. Mitchell (Ofcago) moved :— "<1) .That the increase in the number of bodies charged with the administration of education will lead to increased cost without securing greater efficiency ,- (2). that the proposal to cast a part of the cost of primary education upon local rates is destructive of the national character of our education system, and entails new burdens upon the taxpayers without providing any compensatory advantage, while exposing schools to the danger of being starved." He maintained that of all the bodies working for the public good none were entitled to greater credit than the Education Boards. The proposals in the Bill would simply mean increasing the cost of education and its administration. Under the Bill it was proposed to incorporate Grey and Westland, with thirty-five schools each. Notwithstanding this, it was proposed, under the same measure, to create a new district in Otago, and consisting solely of the Vincent and Maniototo Counties, where there were only thirty-eight schools, and not one of them had an average attendance of over 300. The Provincial Councils would- also have a multiplicity of other functions outside of education. PRESENT-DAY- CONTROL BEST. He condemned the proposal that representation under the Bill should be based on a property value and not on humanity or human being* or manhood suffrage. Under the present system there was no part of the education district that was not a potent factor in the guidance of educational affairs. Where rates were imposed there was the danger that education would be starved. The strength of the education system to-day was the fact that it was a charge on the consolidated revenue of; the country. He quoted figures to show that under the proposal* in th« Bill, three-sevenths of the cost of education would devolve upon local rates. This' point should be brought home clearly to the people. It was a cunningly devised method to extract more from the pockets of the people notwithstanding the fact that we had a buoyant revenue. Mr. D. T. Fleming (Otago) seconded the motion. Mr. Garland (Auckland) described the Bill in its relation to education as class legislation. It proposed to take money from one class and give it to another. Mr. Robert Lee (Wellington) said that the province of the conference was to discuss the present Bill. He did not think they should deal with improvements to the existing system. - Mr. Mitchell/ in replying, said he would not like it to go forth that they considered this class legislation. Under the rating the obligation would fall on the artiean,, or any other person, who was thrifty, and had provided himself with his own home. The motion was adopted. A committee was appointed to present the resolutions of this conference ( to the general conference on the Local Government Bill to-morrow. SUGGESTIONS TO BOARD Mr. Pirani moved — That the Education Boards be asked to consider a proposal that any amendment in tho system of educational administration should be in the direction of the establishment of a Central Council of Education (with the Minister of Education as president), to whom shall be entrusted the functions at present carried out by the Education D<s« par-tment." Mr. Garland (Auckland) seconded the motion. Mr. 'Maginnity urged that the conference was going outside the order of its -reference. Mr. Pirani could bring the matter iirectly before the boards. - The Chairman said the conference was called fop a -specific purpose. He ruled the -motion out of order. This concluded the business of the conference.