WELLINGTON GIRLS' COLLEGE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 316, 1 October 1908, Page 2

WELLINGTON GIRLS' COLLEGE.

the free-place difficulty. THE MINISTER'S REPLY. Mr. Field, in the House of Representalives yesterday, asked the Minister for-Edu-cation whether it was true, as roported at the last meeting of the Wellington College Governors, that, under sjjccial arrangement with the Education Department, apart altogether from the general question whether or not the governors proposed to adopt the free-place system, the governors admitted to the girls' college, and were still giving instruction to, a number of free-place scholars, and whether the Department now, retused to pay the capitation (about £9'per head) on such' free-place scholars on the ground that the governors had not adopted' (and for the purpose, of coercing • them to . adopt) tho free-place system, CAPITATION. A : "It'is quite true,"• said the Minister,; 1 that last year the ..governors of Wellington College "agreed, "without prejudice to ™,. future action, to admit iir that year " >f , a , certain'iiumb'6r .'of free' pupils to the girls, college,, and that the Government ' agroed to pay capitation, on these free pupils so admitted. The capitation has accordingly been paid up to date, and the Government will continue to pay for-Ehese i'ree:pupils up to the end of tho tenure" of their' free places, so that there cannot he! said: to .he any-re-pudiation or breach of faith on the part of the Government in th'isC.rbspoct.' The arrangement _ itself was,..indeed, probably--" . somewhat irregular, and certainly'not, con-, templated by tho Act: b"ut 'if,was, perhaps. justiuedl by, the special circumstances of last .- . Obviously, iiiformil. arrangements of ' - - this kind cannot bo renewed, indefinitely from '- 3 ear to year. Tho clear and definite course laid down in the Act should ,be. followed— that is, the governors should olect to "coma either under Section 91 or-under Section 93- "' or the Act, capitation being; payable only under Section 93. This year...the board of - governors has, admitted certain-other free, i pupils uk addition to those 1 arranged for last •yean ana has claimed capitation ;|for -th'em ' making-tho declaration on the,proper..'form # • thus implying, although not, sriGcificallv stating, that the girls' college i,had-tcle'ckid to come under Section. 93. . To .this, the :J>e- -V partment has no objection; indeed/,it desires to see the girls' college thrown opeij. in, tie same way as the boys' college^. lia,s -'.been."j a o C00 ! sc ' lo °l can claim capitation. under Section 93 oiily when it is.providing, tree places for all qualified free pupils - for'. ; whom it has room; it cannot pick anfchiiosei?iri shall admit to free placeVv :■ ' That the college had so chosen-whom:'i(s should, admit was clear from tho. fact thai i ! it had demanded fees, and until a feiv daysV. ago persisted in demanding'fees, Jojy two"? ■ girls who under the regulations, are ft: to tree and since . makingJ,tlie.r«iaim'; a Q j ror capitation, the governors have informed!;" in the Department that the girls' collegers not , open at present to free pupils'.- Yefc"' imi'i.H order to become entitled to tho capitatioiroo? s claimed on account of free school must definitely make an election?! to li come ,under Section 93. This is what,.fch'o icn governors were asked to do. in the; letter'luis rom the Inspector-General of . : ?d ferred to in the chairman's memorandum,;! 'it which was read at the last meeting of Mio-;- ! Wellington. College Governors. ' SOME FACTS. - - 3 'As that memorandum is somewhat in- --■ > accurato in various respects, and, if not cor-! v-:, rected, is apt to mislead, it may bo as well to,point out the following facts:—(l)-As: to. ■ ■ finance: At the outset an average class of: -0 pupils is assumed; that is , somewhat small, the staffing usually -assumed in all '■■■ secondary schools, except the very smallest, is one. assistant, (in addition to tho principal) for every twenty-five •' or part of .twenty-five pupils on ' the" roll. Ihe capitation given .under the Act- for free - ■ pupils varies according to the amount of thanet annual income derived from endowments per head of the total?roll, increasing as tha" net annual income per. head becomes less. - Ihe net annual' income - from endowments was £1233.-ss.- Out of this net income, together;,with school .fees-,a])d,.the;l,Govern-ment capitation, there, have to. be-paid "salaries of staff, I .office expenses, arid maintenance, ?. n ".nothing else.. The total expenditure for' these last-nauied items was, in 1907, £5270, excluding; the salaries of the' teachers of the ' lower departments, which by-law must.be . paid out of, the fees of the pupils-in-such lower departments. There were 460 pupila in tho two colleges—namely, 28S boys and 172 girls—of whom 28 were in the lower departments, leaving 432 pupils who were taught at a cost of £5270, or at £12 4s. per head. The present number of pupils, exclusive- of •• those in the lower departments, is 46G, and the net annual income, per head from endow-" ments is £1233 55., divided by 466," or £2 12s. ' 10d. Under tho Bill now before Parliament the amount of capitation, payable-on each : free pupil will be £8 plus nine-tenths of tha deficiency below £s—that is, £10 2s. 6d.— -. - so that tho total amount available to meet the cost of educating each free pupil will be £2 12s. lOd. plus £10 2s. Gd., or £12 15s. 4d. per head, as against the actua.l cost last " year of. £12 4s. per .head. The scale is'such that however much the income from endowments might fall or be drawn upon for buildings, or similar expenses, in no case could • the income from endowments "and capitation, taken together, fall below £12- 10s. for every free pupil—that is, it will be always mora ■ than the cost, £12 4s._- This would : be" trueeven if all the pupils, were free pupils. The ' fear, therefore, that the influx of free pupila ' would embarrass., tho . colleges . .financiallyseems to be quite unfounded. • / : 1 '- ', ' THE LEGAL POSITION 7 . . : "The legal position of the college is defined by its own Act (1877, No. 17, local) ■ and by the Secondary Schools Act, 1903, now embodied in tho Education Act, 1908, but the obligations of tho last-named Act tho authorities, of the collegp' have up to -last year endeavoured to escape. Under Sections 91 ;• and 93 every'secondary school must either offer scholarships of a total annual value equal to one-fifth of the net annual income, . from endowments, such scholarships to be approved by the Minister,' or must provide free places in ' accordance with the . regula- 'i tions: ; Up to last year the Governors did - neither • the one thing nor the other—in other words, they did not coftiply .with' tho law of the land. But last year they agreed ■ to bring the Boys! College under Sect ion' 93. of' the Act,. and received from the Government the handsome grant of £10,000 to build and,:equip, the new buildings that-would be required, "aiid arranged, as has been said .. above, to, admit at once,; pending a solution of tho. matter,-. a - certain number of free pupils to the Girls' College. "A? reference is ..made iii ;the memorandum ■ to the,teaching.' of Latin and Greek to those who desire it, it may be pointed out that, these are among-the' subjects which, 'subject to ,tho discretion of-, the headmaster, free "• pupils may choose—in , fact, the list' of subjects from-which choice may be made! includes every subject taught in any secondary school in the-Dominion. "No ,liberty is taken away. i.'V "• OVERCROWDING/:. "Two points in the letter from-the lady principal..call for comment:, tho first.*'is-as-to: overcrowding in consequence of tho influx of freo pupils, alleged to .have -taken place . in other centres. There was overcrowding in one other centre, now. provided' .for by additional accommodation, .built; by. means of a Government grant. But :in reality there need bo' no overcrowding,. as there is provisions in the regulations safeguarding the Governors in -such a case ; . and,; as far . as that question is concerned, -it' l does not affect tho matter of the girls -for.ythe' present year who are already in the school.; Moreover, the chairman anticipates no more than 170 girls in the school altogether. As there were 172 there last year, it is hard to see how the question of overcrowding would arise if the chairman's supposition were correct. The other point in the letter of the, lady principal is a statement, to the effect that ■ the frce-placo pupils often stay too short a' time—sometimes half a year only. . The best ' answer to this is a statement of the actual : facts gathered from tho returns from all'the r secondary schools where there are free pupilsi"'These returns show unmistakably that free ' pupils stay a longer time, not a shorter - ; time, than other pupils. ' That fear is also, therefore, unfounded." ' S". : : • ■