"UNGENEROUS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 195, 19 August 1930, Page 9

"UNGENEROUS."

MINISTER'S CASTIGATION. ATTACK ON EDUCATION BOARD REPLY BY THE CHAIRMAN. S" ■ —: — Exception is taken by the chairman of the Auckland Education Board, Mr. A. Burns,: to. recent comment by the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atniore, on the board's attitude towards the proposal to centralise education. In a letter sent to the Minister, Mr. Burns states: "In your letters to school committees you attack the Auckland Education Board upon the contents of a circular issued to school committees. Consequently I feel that it is my duty to make a statement .on their behalf in reply. "As few copies of the recess educa- -j tional- committee's .report were available it was the duty of my board to draw the school committees' attention to the contents. In doing so the board claimed that it was for those in charge of local control for the time being to use every legitimate means to conserve and protect local privileges if they considered: there was a danger of same being taken away. '"The point stressed by the board was that part dealing with administration, and if the interpretation of the report is wrong, the fault lies in the compilation of the report. "In that portion relating to the duties of the proposed district boards, the erection of buildings, repairs, etc., are not included, neither are they included in the Departmental duties, while the recommendation of the director that these duties should be undertaken by the Public Works Department led to the conclusion that his recommendation would be adopted, but your reply that such is not the case is accepted. "In reference to the appointment of teachers by the national appointments committee in Wellington, and your reply that it had the strong support of the New Zealand Institute of over 6000 teachers, it would be interesting to know what the result would be if a referendum of the teachers were taken on this question. "Your statement that the board's opposition is due to 'vested interest in positions held for many years/ is ungenerous, as the opposition arises from a conscientious belief that centralisation is opposed to the beet interests of education. "The board understands that the Auckland Primary Schools' Association has also circularised the committees in this dietrict."