Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1907, Page 6

Evening Post.

THURSDAY, JANUAIIY 3J, 1907. STUDENTS AND THE EXHIBITION. » Tho deputation from the Wellington Industrial Association, which urged yesterday that special facilities should be granted at the public cost to technical school students and apprentices desirous of visiting the Exhibition, did not receive much encouragement from the ActingPremier, and we trust that the effect of his promised consultation with tho Minister of Education will not be to alter his attitude. The grounds of the request are obvious enough. Despite the cavils of superior critics, the Exhibition is a placo full of instruction and entertainment for those who are qualified by education and intelligence to understand what they see. U'or the appreciation of all the mechanical and artistic displays which between them comprise perhaps the most valuable part of the Exhibition, the qualifications of the etudent3 of the Technical School ; would certainly be exceptional^ and their J chances of deriving a lasting benefit ' would be exceptional also. As Mr. David Robertson, the president of the Industrial Association put it, "a visit to the Exhibi- 1 tion would be of great educational value to the young people, and would prove a j great encouragement to them m their j studies." When Mr. Robertson went on to add that " ho believed it would pay the country well to do what was proposed" he j was entering a field of speculation which does not admit of an exact check, and which requires to be extended a good deal further before even an approximate estimate can. be hazarded. We mean, of course, that the principle which admitted the students of the Wellington Technical School to the exceptional privileges proposed could not possibly be so limited as to make room for them alone. In the first placo, the pupils of every other technical school would have to be placed at once upon tho came footing; other schools and institutions would also put in similar claims ; and it might plausibly be urged that those who were not privileged to belong to any school or institution had the strongest claim of all. By the time all these claimants had been provided for according to the requirements of justice, would anybody be prepared to support Mr. Robertson's contention that the scheme "would pay the country wcil" us a sound business proposition? The reply of the Hon. Mr Hall-Jones wan sufficiently sympathetic in its tone, but he was necessarily obliged to scrutinise the matter more closely than the members of the deputation, whose responsibility was limited to making their i request. "He had," ho aaid, "to deal j with the request of the deputation from the Railway Department's point of view Ho had endeavoured to give facilities for scholars visiting the Exhibition at an extremely low rate ; the cost of travel for scholaTs waa about 2s per 100 miles. They could not get beyond that as a charge for travelling. Tbsn. they had accommodation at tho Exhibition itself for school children at a cost of 2s per day for each child, and even at those rates they could, if they liked, stay over several days." The Minister also pointed out the facilities for Teaching tho Exhibition which were provided by tho department for tho general public. As an instance of the charges under the arrangements maJo for oxenaion. from *fa« SISXJTCaV towns of the colony, he stated "that the second-class charge for a person from Pahiatua to go to the Exhibition and return would be only £1. That meant their railway fare and steameT passage from Wellington to Lyttelton, and railway to Christchurch. The only condition was that passengers must go direct to the Exhibition from their startingpoint ; but they could please themselves as to tho time occupied in returning." These are surely very liberal terms, and if further concessions are needed in special cases, may not the Government! reasonably urge that the cost should bo raised in some other way^than by a levy on the public purse? Th*e notorious fact that the colony will havo to face a deficit on its guaranteo of the expenses of the Exhibition was. also referred to by the Acting-Premier, bub ho attempted no of the amount. It must, however, be sufficiently serious to justify the •'Government in steeling its heart against i the plausible demands which were made yesterday, and would, if granted, bring a hundred others in their train.