A GLIMMER OF HOPE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 10

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

SCHOOLS CAPfTATION

THE CLEANING PROBLEM

QUESTION OF FINANCE

The Prime Minister's room could .hardly have accomodated more people this. morning than waited on him as representatives of the school committees and other educational interests throughout the Dominion to request an increase in the capitation grant made by the Government. It was shown that the present grant is altogether inadequate to enable the schools to be properly cleaned, and it was stated that nothing less than £50,000 additional would be sufficient to meet requirements. .The Prime Minister, while stressing the acuteness of the present financial position, dismissed the deputation with the assurance that there was-a glimmer of hope that the Government might be able to do something to meet the request.

Mr. .T. Forsyth, chairman of the Wellington Education Board, pointed out that, under the present system the board would be about;£7oo in debt at the end of the year, on account of the . inadequacy of the capitation. He referred to the cost of cleaning schools, and to the disproportion between the , assistance given by the''Government to primary and- secondary schools. For .... •example, if the Rongotai College had been used, as originally intended, as a primary school, the allowance would hare been £112 a year, but as it was - now used as a secondary school the ■ r amount actually paid was £182. If ;■-■ ;it had bce'n; carried on as a primary school^the board would have been £70 - short in respect of .that particular school. ' -.;. KEENLY ANNOYED. . Mr. L. Hennesey, president of the Wellington School Committees Association, declared, that the Government at •;. 310 time had paid anything like sufficient toenable the schools to be clean- !' ,ed;,., the ; amount paid was totally in,adequate. .School committees felt very .->; teen annoyance at this. They were :' expected, to clean the schools "properly >.; at ab'ou.t one-sixth of the true cost of ■ .the work. Money was being provided sufficient to enable other schools but -... the:primary schools to be cleaned. Not ;..• only was the amount for cleaning prim.- . ,ary schools insufficient, but also the ,_. cleaners were being sweated. He did not. think any school committee had ■-< ever.been in a,position to pay for the r r... services of. their cleaners. They got ■; 'service for themoney that was actually spent, but the schools were not properly cleaned as the word >was generally -■ understood in application to other State • buildings or. private homes. The Government expected the work of cleaning to be done at a cost of about £10 a ;-• room per year.V It could not be done. '*■ In addition to that cost, the committees -. also had to provide for sanitary sor- "■- vices, and that .was expected to be ■-■ carried out for the equivalent of 5s • per week, which was likewise impos- .-: sible. Mr. Hennesey submitted that : the school committees were entitled to ' something better that they were get- . . ting in the matter of sanitary services, ;- ■ vsartieularly in some of the city schools. The present position was that some- ; thirig like 12,000 school committee mem- _. bers were going round "cadging" ; money to pay for school services. The committees needed a sum more nearly approaching that given to the high schools, and it was estimated that auy-thing-lees than '£50,000 in addition to the present annual allowance for school . cleaning and other expenses would be ■'; . quite inadequate. SOME COMPARISONS. ::; •■•Mr. N. A. Ingram, secretary of the „ association, quoted detailed figures to show the deficiencies in respect to certain schools in the Wellington district. ; .The- amount paid by the Education ... Board in excess of the amount given by the Government, in respect of 35 schools, .... was last year £777. Comparing primary and secondary schools of about the ; sa.me attendance, he. pointed out that while Petone Central School receiv- •,,. Ed £217, Wellington Boys' College reS ■ ceived; on a, similar basis, £1256; Ber- !-■ hampore received £167, and Wellington Girls' College £841; Te Aro £146, *) as against Wellington East- Girls' Col- ;•• loge £689; and'Khandallah £SS, as compared with Kongotai College £399. Primary schools with 1840 scholars, on ; the basis of average attendance, received the equivalent of 6s Sd per scholar, and secondary schools with 1821 scholars, on a 70 per cent, capitation grant, received tho equivalent of £1 14s Id per scholar. The representations were supported .. by school committees all' over the ■■ Dominion. QUESTION OF FINANCE. r _The .Minister of Education (the Hpn. H. "Atmore) said he would not admit that the present allowance to school committees was adequate, but'the whole ; question resolved itself into the amount i- of finance that "could be provided for ■-.- the r purp6se. The actual capitation allowance was 10s per year, not 7s, as had , been . stated in a circular to members o£ Parliament. Other countries were :- finding, the same difficulty, and probably . in, no other country in the world was v the ' Government, paying more in the '■ cause of education than was the case in ;- jSTew Zealand. He referred particularly ■- to Australia, and quoted the following -; comparisons with New Zealand:- : • , ■ . • - Grant. ' ■ ' - No. of Pupils. £ Queensland .... 152,000 70 992 ■■ Victoria 220,000 52909 New-South-Wales 278,000 92,516 New Zealand .'. 216,000 104,500 ■• Mr. C. H. Chapman, M.P.: ' 'Have the committees,the same duties'?" ' ".The Minister: "Yes, it is for'carrying I out the. same duties as in New Zealand." In 1914 the amount provided by ; the .Government was £43,000. While . admitting that the school attendances had largely increased since then, and that the purchasing power of money had '■. fallen, he said the average payment per •'- PUP'I had increased from about 5s 6d to- 10s. The question was primarily _ one of finance. In conclusion, Mr. At- , more made it clear that ho recognised ■ the splendid work being done by tho school committees. - TO BE CONSIDERED. ■ The Prime Minister (the Bight Hon • Sir Joseph Ward) add his trouble was to1 find the money U> make an increase. , It-was a : very serious problem. "When : the request was made for £50,000," he ' said, "I commenced to wonder if I ■ should not get out of the room—(laughter )r—because we have no opportunity of providing £50,000 in a lump sum , for the purpose you have named." He - said he would look into their representations with a sympathetic eye and see ■whether it would be possible to set aside an additional sum, and if he was able. to. do bo he would make provision -. on the Supplementary Estimates. He recognised that the school committees .were.doing valuable work, and that they ' ought not to be called on to put their hands into their pockets and everlastingly appeal to the people for money to pnable them to put the schools in. order. He was now going into the whole question. of appropriatJpjßg fro^swbnißsioa to^

Parliament, but he -was engaged very largely in cutting down moneys, not adding.

A voice: "Don't put the pruning knife on the school committees." "Naturally," said Sir Joseph, "my sympathies are with the deputation. If the majority of. the school committees are being run on such narrow lines that appeals have to be made, it is a condition that ought not to be allowed to go on."

Mr. R. Sample, M.P.: "There is a glimmer of hope, then?"" The Prime Minister: "There is a glimmer of hope." (Applause.) The deputation was introduced by Mr. R. M'Keen, M.P., and several other members were in attendance.