EDUCATION VOTE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30477, 26 June 1964, Page 1

EDUCATION VOTE

£6m Rise To £63.5m

(Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, June 25. The Budget adds £6m to the money to be spent on education, raising the total to £63.5m. Mr Lake said that this was double the amount spent on education eight years ago.

He proposes to spend £3m on university buildings this year—£lm more than last year.

“Although there is a continuing rise both in primary and post-primary rolls, there has been a relatively greater increase in the field of higher education, particularly universities,” said Mr Lake. The whole £3m to be spent on university land, buildings, and capital equipment, and the £400,000 for land and buildings for technical institutes, is to be borrowed, and a new vote in the works and trading account is to be made to cover it.

Mr Lake said it had been the. policy for some years to meet all education expenditure from revenue. In this year’s works programme £12.7m was being provided for land, buildings and capital equipment, and the point had been reached where it would not be reasonable to charge the full cost against current revenue, particularly in respect of major university buildings, which were usually of substantial construction with a very long life.