SCHOOL COMMITTEE GRANTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 805, 30 April 1910, Page 3

SCHOOL COMMITTEE GRANTS.

•■ .____*_ —_~' : HON. ,G. FO"WLDS 'AND CRITICS. "LOCAL CONDITIONS NO. ".; CRITERION." ' ' Speaking to a reporter yesterday the Hon. Q. Fowlds (Minister for Eduea-I tion). replied to the recent criticism by the North Canterbury. Education Board on the question of the capitation s grants to school committees,as-follows: — :"Tho only thing ..I •, say ■is that, the statements made, and figures' quoted at; the meeting- of' the.. ..board prove the truth of my contention." I ; aid pot say that all the Education Boards had reduced the. amount of their grants to, school. committees in consequence of the special capitation grant' of 9d. What I did say was that some boards had'either done that, or had increased the amount of work that they required the committees to dp, and the figures quoted at the , meeting of the board referred to ' proved " that statement to a demonstration. It was there said, that the North Canterbury. Board had paid over to the committees no* less than Bs. out of the total 12s. of capita-, tion that the. board received, and that some of, the other boards • gave only 4s. Ojd. The amount of work that the committees in each case_ are .expected to do with the money.is not.shown, and therefore the comparison 'is not quite complete. ..... ... "Taking the figures as they stand, however, I contend that it is not fair that committees in such education' districts should have to struggle through with 4s. Ojd. of capitation, while committees in other parts of the Dominion are receiving twice that amount, and that no satisfactory solution of the difficulty from the committees' point of view can be arrived at . while merelyl ■ voting to..school committees a capitation of 9d. for their assistance. Anybody can ! see that 'this amount is totally inadequate, and if 9d. is to be voted specially, why should not the whole amount required by tho committees be ' voted in one sum? -Either the whole amount ' required for tho committees ought- to be- voted direct, or the whole amount ought to bo voted to the boards, with an indication from Parliament as to the manner of its allocation." Mr.. Fowlds added that'the discussion at tho meeting of the North Canterbury Education Board showed the tendency of each board to look at what were national questions purely from the point of view of local experience, while the' Minister for Education had to look at them from a national standpoint, and a system that might be working satisfactorily in ono district ■ was not necessarily working satisfactorily taking the Dominion as a whole.