"FALSE ECONOMY."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18633, 6 March 1926, Page 12

"FALSE ECONOMY."

TECHNICAL - EDUCATION. URGENT NEEDS OF COLLEGE. [ i ... 1 Matters affecting technical education were discussed at last night's meeting of the Technical College Board of.Governor?. at which Mr McGregor Wright presided. "When I met the Minister for Education in Cbristehurch just before the last Board meeting," the chairman reported, ••'he said that the Director of Education would be in Ohristchurcli in the course of a few days, and the matter of u grant for extension of the Girls' Hostel could then be considered. This would have enabled us to bring up the need for extensions of the College also. However, we have not had vet an opportunity of meeting Mr Cauglilev. '•'ln the meantime the Education Department has relieved the most urgent pressure bv making a grant of rather more than* £2OO for furnishing two more class rooms. Our needs, however, are much greater than this. At least one more physics laboratory and addi-. tional equipment for the existing one and for the electrical workshop are needed. The mechanical engineering workshop has had no additional machines worth mentioning for ten or twelve years. The Department has apparently not decided yet whether at will pay the cost of drawing desks and equipment, which we had to provide to relieve the pressure two years ago, and now another room for drawing is a real need." "A Gradual Undermining." The gradual undermining, of technical education, Mr E. H. Andrews declared, seemed to be part of a movement at headquarters to . substitute something else for the technical system. And a strong protest should be raised against this, for with the undoubted popularity of. technical education the grants 6hould be increased and not reduced. "When the roll doubled almost it was easy to see how the system appealed to parents. But it was impossible to carry on with the same efficiency. ■ The clauses in.-Mr McGregor Wright's report should be brought specially to the notice of the Canterbury members of Parliament, said Sir F. R. Cooke, and he moved according;ij. - "Cap in Hand!" . It. was Mr \y. J. Jenkin's opinion that it was time that the cheese-paring economising was stopped. It was tiihe for public protest, and'it was, he'believed, humiliating to think that' school rommifcteefl should hare; to go to the Minister cap in hand. ■ On being put to the meeting, Mr Cooke's motion was . carried and it was also agreed to. refer. the, causes' to' the Appointments Committee with power to act. Regarding the suggested establishment of an Advisory Board, r mentioned by the . chairman,- it was decided to support the idea and participate in the election. "GoveramentMust Realise. "The matter of erecting another Technical . School has to be faced at, once, and., while suitable land is available; the: sooner it is dealt -'with the less ft Tyill cost. The Government must rea"froni the enrolments in . the. Tech-nif-Rl High School this, year, that this form .of education has. a -strong measure of popular support. :. , v , "I cauuot.believe that the.establishment- of a number of, Junior ./High. Schools.in. town 'will supply..the education that the people want ; or need for their children, aiid there is urgent necessity for the ■ Government to makß' a decision regarding the future policy for post-primary education. There is some cause for concern in the fact .that while the number of technical, school students has been increasing rapidly, the annual grants for technical education as given in the Official Year Book, have shown a steady decrease in the past fotir years, as shown in-the following, figures:—-Expenditure on Techm-. cal Education in 1921-22, & 244,627 j expenditure on- Technical Educationin cent. Attendances at Technical High Schools in ,1921, ,3349; . attendances -at Technical High Schools in' 1924, 5369; increase, 60 per , cent. ' "This reduction has been brought about by so-called economies, that must be harmful to-the country inasmuch, as I they have probably been effected by keeping the allowance foj teachers' salaries, for buildings and land, and for equipment below what the-occasion ,de.mandSi The expenditure on buildings 1 and equipment wasV£lol,l9B in 1921, and only £31.677 in 1924. We are suffering now. throughout the Dominion from this policy of; false economy,' and ■unless. immediate "steps are' taken; the ground lost Ayill be hard to regain. . .. " AIL _ members vrill be interested in i.the decision of the Minister of . Education to establish . a Technical - Schools Board, of eight members, whose duty it- wil.i ■be to advise • him regarding courses for Technical schools, and fof technological examinations. Two of the, members will be elected by the Boards governing the Technical schools.' ' Although. advisory Boards and Councils haye 'been given an .general, very, little opportunity in the past to do much useful: work, it is -gratifying to- know , that. the-importance- of our branch of '.education has. gained; this measure of, recognition, and I feel, that we should do our.- bent towards the establishment of the Board and supporting it' in- -its work." - •