THE CHILDREN'S CASE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16695, 2 December 1919, Page 4

THE CHILDREN'S CASE.

" CAMOUFLAGE" NOT WANTED. In circulating copies of resolutions of tho recent conference of Education Boards the New Zealand Hducctiou Boards' Association makca a pica for sincerity in advocacy of educational reform. "On all tho vital questions ditcusscd a practically unanimous opinion is expressed (states tho Association)j and tho resolutions, it is to be added, represent tho deliberate judgment of earnest men whoso sole purpose, m this connexion, is to seeuro to the child t.ist sufficiency of educational opportunity to which, aa tho futuro citizen cf >ew Zealand, he is entitled. To do tins honourably and efficiently implies a sufficient staff of well-trained and wellpaid teachers: it implies the acquirement in many place® more spacious «ites. and the er«*ction of _ schools in j keeping with the new and higher standards of to-day; it involves, especially in rising districts, the 'scrapping of many buildings which, while perhaps sound as buildings, no longer meet the changed educational conditions; finally, ill order to attain this end, it involves the expenditure of lavge sit.ns of money. The Boards, however, are satisfied that thev express the opinion of the vast majority of the citizens of this country t when thev affirm that, whatever the cost, so long as the money is wiselv and economically spent, the expenditure must and shall be mot. "The resolutions appended aro presented for the earnest study of electors who aro interested in education. Too tlecplv interested they cannot be. As action follows thoucht, so it is earnesv ly urged that electors should carefully scrutinise tho views of tho candidates at the approaching election. Their support should l;o resolutely_ withheld at the ballot from the eandidato who_ regards education morely ns a convenient and popular means of gaining votes at election. On the othor liand, their support should be extended to that candidate, and to that candidate alonc„ who can satisfy them that a sound and sufficient educational policv, affording real education to rich and poor alike, is an essential element in his working political creed, to bo translated with mtegritv into effective enactment in tho serious days of Parliamentary life following the election. "From political educational camouflage New Zealand has suffered too long and too patiently. The Boards aro satisfied thnt the electors are now resolved to demand absolute educational sinceritv from those who would successfully seek their suffrages."