WITHIN OUR MEANS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 10

WITHIN OUR MEANS

ECONOMY AND EDUCATION

NEW ZEALAND'S PROBLEM.

, ' TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l cannot help thinking that Mr. Parkinson's disapproval of my plea for economy in the administration of the Education Department is based on some misconception as to the end I am seeking. In his natural concern for the welfare of the teachers, the secretary' of the Educational Institute seems to have become obsessed by the idea that any curtailment of the expenditure of the •Department. would'entail a reduction of salaries, less capable and comprehensive teaching, and/ a consequent lowering of the standard of individual and national efficiency. Certainly, nothing of this kind is in the minds of those who are urging . a thorough: overhaul of the expenditure of the Department with a view to eliminating, waste and extravagance. On the contrary, they are satisfied by a fairly ( exhaustive examination of the position, which has been facilitated by the authorities, that a reduction and readjustment, of 'the expenditure might be made' without any disadvantage to the teachers and. with considerable benefit to the system and the country. -

Before examining what there 'is of argument in Mr. Parkinson's letter, -let .us glance for a moment at his "superfluities," which, if I may say so without disparaging the very excellent work he has done in the cause of education, seem'to me a little, "cheap. '{ '^There (has never been anything else than the most rigid economy in regard' to education •in New Zealand," he declares. "It has been regarded as one of the non-paying' services, > and has been starved accordingly. . There has never been,.any other building policy than the starvation one," he states again, "with the result that a'dead horse has to be disposed of." These statements are not fair—are: grossly unfair,' indeed—to the zealous educationists who have held the portfolio of Education since the Department was instituted- just upon fifty years ago. Mr. John Ballance, Sir Robert Stout, Mr. George Fisher, Mr. W. P. Reeves, Mr. George .Fowlds; Mr. J. A. Hanari,' and Sir .James Allen, were not the type of men to "starve" education in any of its branches, and Parliament, whatever may' have / been its differences on other questions, always has been ready, to give the Minister of the day generous support in his efforts towards progress and efficiency. It. is worse than "cheap1"; jt is 'incorrect and unjust to iniply that these zealous public servants have grudged ! any service they could, render or any1 money the State could afford in the interests of education.

Then Mr. Parkinson reiterates, as if they were peculiar'to .himself and hjs associates in the campaign for expendi-. ture, more 'expenditure, and still more expenditure, sentiments which we all entertain and should like to see given practical expression. "Education," he says, to quote one or two of them, "so far from being a non-paying service, is in reality the best paying of all the services, the one service on which are dependent the results" of ail the other' services and activities of the community" ;'. ''education has. to do with .the .development of young lives, making them effective, fruitful," efficient" for self and community"; ' "the economy that prevents that development is waste, the most disastrous kind of-waste, for it is the'waste-of.human material, the stunting and warping and . shrivelling of -young human lives that ought to be allowed to open out,'- and blossom and bear in due.season the full fruit of human .endoavour." And so on and so on. Some of these sentiments 'are expressed in his own words, and some in, the words of other people, but they all, of course, are very "admirable, and, as I already have said, common to all of us ; But, being subject to human limitations and to the economic, laws of our day, we have to accept the facts'and the possibilities as we, know, them to be,, and,to do our best-to make them better in the interests of the country. Now for. Mr. Parkinson's arguments. Your correspondent attempts to justify the large expenditure upon education in 1922-23 by saying that it bore practically the same "ratio to the gross income of the Dominion as <Jid the expenditure in 1913-14. Here are his own figures : . : _ Expended . .'.

.. Gross ' on . ' ' Keyenue. Education. * .. '£ . Fraction. 19U ... 12,229,80 i 1,200,678 1-lOttl 1023 ... .27,579,443 1 ''3,187,292 slightly over ■ ' . . • . ■ 1-lQth ■ One hesitates to challenge the accuracy of figures emanating from the headquarters of the Educational Institute, where, the public like to think, is congregated all the learning and culture of the teaching profession; .but I have giine over these .figures again and again in a mere layman's laborious way, and as often have made the-fraction for 1914 9.8 per cent, in place ;of 10 per cent., and for 1923.11.5 per ceht. in place of "slightly over", 10 per cent. The point is not very material to this discussion, but if my calculation is correct then the schoolmaster is "abroad" in a very different sense from the one usually implied .by the term. . The point that matters is that Mr. Parkinson lays .it down as an axiom for the guidance of, tlie Government that at • least 10 . peri cent.' of the gross revenue of the Dominion must be' expended by the Education. Department. Already nearly one-half of the gross revenue is absorbed by permanent charges—interest and sinking fund on the Public Ilebt, pensions and so forth—and. thus year, after providing for. these' ""charges, only £15,509,797 remained for general purposes. Of this amount the EducationDepartment. received £3,187,292, so that its share, of: the funds actually available was over 20 per cent. Surely a country that. is devoting, one-fifth of its free : income to education cannot fairly be charged , with neglecting the 'interests of the'rising generation. I have read of no other country in the. world that is_ doing so much for, posterity' in this direction. Mr. Parkinson's assertion that'the wealth of each individual in the Dominion increased from £446 in 1912 to £514 in 1923', and his contention that '.these figures show that !"the taxpayer has plenty of cash in hand with winch to meet the modest demands made upon.him for the education of - the growing members of the community1' can hardly be taken seriously, and. tills .is no ioking matter. The secretary of the Educational Institute must know, of the sore straits to which 76 -per cent, of the people of the Doriiinion are put at the present time to meet their existing obligations, and to jest about the amount they might have if the wealth of the country vei-'e evenly distributed is not becoming to a member of 'his profession. .. /

Already I have trespassed' to a greater leiiHth. than "I intended upon your hospitality, and I "will repeat very bvieflv the directions in which jnrmiries have shown economies in the'i administration of the Education Department misht proceed. It has been estimated that lip twoen- £40,000-arid £50,000 a year. Yk being wasted-in-the diiplicatioh'i'of, seryiecs by the Department and education boards; it is known that the education koards are,' alvvara 'clainam-iiw lor

more and more money, and frequently over-running their allocations; it is notorious that'school buildings have been ' costing a great deal more than wou.'rfl have been necessary, to satisfy the requirements of the localities concerned; it is quite likely that many of these buildings, erected in stone and brick to endure- for centuries, will be unsuited to the needs and systems of' twenty years hance; it is admitted by teachers themselves that hundreds of children are lingering on in the secondary schools when their time would be more profitably employed and their future more fully assured by a course of practical training in some trade or rural avocation, and it is obvious that the syllabus still is vastly overcrowded and that children with no aptitude at all for this study or' that are being harassed, confused, and discouraged to no useful purpose.: It is to the credit of the present Minister, the Hon. C. J. Parr, that he. has faced \these . problems . with understanding ,and courage, but there remains much for him and for Parliament to do, one of their greatest tasks being to keep the expenditure within the means, of the _ country and •at the same time maintain the national system of education at the highest level of efficiency. Ihis, it appears to me, is. a work in which the Educational Institute should bo heartily co-operating with the head of the Department.—l am, etc., CONTRIBUTOR. 12th June..