AN ORGY OF ECONOMY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 156, 5 July 1927, Page 6

AN ORGY OF ECONOMY.

\\ e sympathise entirely with the desire of Ministers to cut down all superfluous public expenditure in their respective Departments. But it seems to us that the Hon. R. A. Wright and the Education Department are going too far in this direction. The edict appears to have gone forth that somehow or other expenditure on educational purposes must be reduced, and the Department, in its desire to carry out the instructions of its chief, seems to be striking right and left at all sorts of charges and commitments. The other day attention was drawn to the withdrawal of boarding allowances, practically without notice, from junior teachers. Next we learn that Trailing College students, who have hitherto drawn travelling allowances on the ground of distance, are in some cases to be compelled to make a refund to the Department on the ground that they might have found a shorter way to their duties by walking direct instead of following circuitous tram routes. Whether or not it is right to allow such expenses it is' certainty wrong to demand a refund. It has also been suggested that it would save expense if Education Boards were abolished, leaving the whole system to be administered direct from Wellington. This proposal so far , is only a report, but it is a very significant one. We believe that an appeal to public opinion in support of the great principle of local, as opposed to centralised control, would rouse a storm of protest that the Minister and his \ colleagues would not lightly face. i