FREE PLACE IN DANGER?

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 245, 16 October 1931, Page 5

FREE PLACE IN DANGER?

RESULT OF EDUCATION CUT. At the meeting of the Seddon Memorial Technical College Board yesterday afternoon a circular was received from the New Zealand Technical School Teachers' Association calling the attention of parents and school committees to the evil effects of the threatened cut of £500,000 in the education vote, as set out in the Finance Bill. Such a large economy could only be effected at the expense of valuable educational facilities, including a formidable attack on the system of free places. While the cost of secondary and technical education for the year ending March 31, 1931, had been stated at £010,000, the saving effected by the abolition of the free place system would amount to £500,000. Another circular sent out by the New Zealand Federation of Teachers stated that total abolition of the grants for free places was "the definite intention of the Coalition Government," and urged immediate action by parents and teachers combined.. Over a motion by the chairman, Mr. H. S. W. Kin|;, to defer action until more definite information was available, Mr. J. -A. C. Allum proposed that a request for further details be forwarded immediately to the Minister of Finance, Mr. W. Downie Stewart, asking him to supply a copy of Hhe bill. This would avoid undesirable delay. The board decided that beyond this no further action would be taken as yet.