EDUCATION ENQUIRY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 138, 11 June 1912, Page 4

EDUCATION ENQUIRY

SCHOOL 'LIBRARIES ADVOCATED i FURTHER EVIDENCE IN' AUCKLAND. [BY TJXEG&APH — PRESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, lCth June. The Royal Commission which is now enquiring into ,tho present state of education in the Dominion, lesumed its. sittings in Auckland this morning, Mr. Mark Cohen presiding. Air. Richard Crewe, secretary »f the I Auckland Education Board, said that I there was a great scarcity of teachers [in the Auckland, district. The Auckland** Board felt that the control" of technical educatioa should be placed in the hands of an Associated board on which local bodies had representation. This would widen the public interest in the work. He was not in favour of primary, t.econdaryi and .technical education being controlled by one body. Mr. T. W. Leys, vice-president of the Libraries Association, urged thai, adequate! provision shsuld be made for school libraries, which sheuld be re-, gadded as an integral part of the system, and in the larger cities of Great Britain this branch was maintained by the corporations, books being issued' I free from . the juvenile departments of { the public libraries. The books, ©f course, were very carefully selected. In the case of New Zealand, Mr. Leys said that, with a free issue of juvenile books from the Dunedin Public ' Library, there were 799 , borrowers on the roll, whereat in Wellington, where there was a charge of 2s 6d a year, the number was 400. In Auckland, where the charge was ss, the number was only forty-.five. To inaugurate a complete library system for New Zealand • schools in the upper standards (on the basis of 42,475 pupila) the cost of providing one book each' at a charge of 3s would mean £6341, and, according to a return prepared by the Education Department, the cost of circulation would be one shilling per head. Mr. E. W. Paton, Principal of Elam School, advocated a system of natioml art competitions, which he said would have a most advantageous effect on art in the Dominion. These would take the < place of the South Kensington examinations, which were practically not available to the average colonial student. He found no want of talent either in town, or country, and all that wa« wanting was the opportunity. Mr. G. George, Director of Technical Education in Auckland district, favoured Betting ud one board to control secondary, technical, and university education. ' This bWd should have power to levy rates which should be subsidised by the Government on a £2 for £1 basis. With regard to the raising of teachers, he considered that they should not be allowed to attend the training college until they reached th©-age of 20. Male teacher* entering the college should be bound for . a longer* period than .at present, for many of them merely made the Training College a stepping-stone to other professions. Such, members should be .compelled, to reimburse the cost of their training. He maintained that female teachers should not be given such hard work as that allotted to males, and the basis of pa^y should be made accordingly. Physically, women were not constituted to -work as hard as men. A medical inspection of each school should bo made twice a year. ' , Dealing with technical education, '■witness remarked that technical schools , should be made to serve many purposee. .During, the day</..for.ine.tanb» > »fthey could be used as secondary and continuation schools, and also- be part of the university system. The 'advantage of such a j plan urai that the same equipment and j I theeame stuff could bexiitiljsed 'for' varied purpose©.' He would " make it' compulsory for all boys' and girls to attend continuation schools until the age of 15 years. He did not believe in evening classes for those who worked eight hours during -the day at their businesses. In Munich (Bavaria) apprentices attended day continuation classes for eight to nine hours every week. Employers in that country, who had been at fiiet opposed to the classes, were now delighted with the system. With respect to the -remuneration of teachers, he considered that technical instructors should be the best paid of all teachers. Mi. G. J. Garland, chairman of the Auckland Education Board, said school committee* were doing, ' and had done,' good work, and should not be done away with. The function* of the committee, however, should not be extended in the •matter of selecting teachers. He advocated a Dominion scheme for the grading and promotion of teachere. The sittings of the Commission .opened on Tuesday last, and will conclude tomorrovy. In the evening members of the Commission will leave for the South by the . Main Trunk express, and .will continue their sittings- m Dunedin. From Dunedin they will proceed to Inverc^rgill, and, afterwards, they will sit at Christ-church and Wellington, in turn. The sittings of the Commission will conclude at • Wanganui. It is anticipated that the sitting* in the various centres will engage members of the Commission until the middle of July.