THE SCHOOL BUILDING GRANTS.

Evening Star, Issue 7468, 12 March 1888, Page 3

THE SCHOOL BUILDING GRANTS.

IMPORTANT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. An interview took place at Wellington on Wednesday between the Hon. the Minister for Education and a deputation from the Board of Education relative to the allocation of the annual grant for building purposes. In the course of his reply,

The Hon. Mr Fisher said that he took exception to the population basis, because he believed that there were some districts in the colony which had been struggling on in the matter of schools, while others had been able to carry on the educational system in quite an affluent way. To show that he did not consider the population basis fair, he would point out that a short time ago he had sent round a circular to every board asking them to send in an estimate of the amounts required for building purposes, but pointing out that the amount at the disposal of the Government was not as large as usual. The amount set down last year for building purposes was L 40.000, but as it was found that this year the amount bad been exceeded by LIO.OOO, it would leave only L 30.000 available. In reply to that circular he received estimates amounting to about L 90.000, and even then the Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland Boards had not applied. The Auckland Board asked for LS.OOO, the Wellington Board for L 20.984, the North Canterbury Board for L 12.435, the Otago Board for L 11.750, and the Southland Board for LI 1,850. The Government, finding that they had not such an amount of money at their disposal, had to fall back upon the rule of thumb principle and allocate the money on the basis of population. They had no help for it. Auckland, whioh asked for LS.OOO, got L 6.091 ; North Canterbury, which applied for L 12,438, received L 5.020 9s; and each of the other dis-

tricts obtained its proportion according to the population basis. Now, there was the further question as to when we were to arrive at anything like a cessation of borrowing for building grants. It was fair to assume that there would always be a moderately increasing annual demand for room on account of increase in population, but the people would have to face the question as to when this borrowing for building purposes would cease. The amount spent on school buildings since the coming into foroe of the Education Act in 1877 was nearly a million— L865,64S all of which was borrowed money. The people of N,ew Zealand had really been living in an educational elysimn. He thought the bulk of the people were not aware of the fact that the money spent on the school buildings of the colony was money borrowed in a far away land. Ho really thought there must be a time for a cessation of borrowing for educational purposes as well as for raUways and other public works, and ho would go bo far as to say that a scheme would be introduced next session, in which the colonists would be asked to provide money for educational purposes. He was not prepared to say how this money would bo raised, but he might say that he did not think there should be a special form of taxation, because that might make the educational system, in which the people now sook a great pride, most distasteful to the bulk of them. lie did not believe in interfering with the system, but the money for the purpose must be raised in the colony. He had great sympathy with the Wellington district because it did not stand on anything like a fair parallel with the educational districts of the South. He did not believe in drawing upon the future, and involving the country financially years'in advance, and he thought wo should live pretty well within our means. Ho was inclined to thiuk that some of the boards went too far in erecting schools in sparsely populated districts, and in his opinion that was the result of a belief on tho part of the people that Government had abundant money at their disposal for

educational uuiiuiug jnu(JUBUM. auu uuiut which the Government wished to bring home to the minds of the people was that they themselves would have to pay out of their own revenues for the erection of their own school buildings, because the drain upon the country was very great. Therefore, In the future, those who clamored most would havo the privilege of paying most, for the country could not continue going to England for money to erect sohools in' New Zealand. The borrowing era was pretty well at an end, and borrowing would affect educational matters as well as others. He should like also to call the attention of the deputation to a statement of Mr John Samuel, one of the inspectors of schools in Cape Colony, in which it was pointed out that although the population of that colony was one and a quarter millions, as against half a million in New Zealand, the cost of their education system was one-fifth that of ours. He admitted that the New Zealand system was superior to that of Cape Colony, but pointed out that although Mr Samuel was very much pleased with our system, he thought it was far too costly. Mr Fisher went on to say that the amount of monoy spent on education in Now Zealand had also attracted the attention of the people from whom the money was borrowed. In tho last issue of • Westgarth's Circular, the editor observed with pleasure that the Government of New Zealand wore doing their best to reduce the expenditure on education. The system was' one the people were justly proud of, but as sensible men, and men who had the welfare of the country at heart, they should endeavor to make that system —perfect as it was—less costly. Govern'ment, he pointed out, were doing as well as they could to re-establish the name of the colony in England, and the people should assist them in their endeavor. | Through t' e courtesy of the Minister for Education, we ( l Post') are enabled to publish the following returns showing the allocation of the building grant for 1887 and the amount of' each" year's grant since the passing of the Education Act:— '

.— "1 Amount t Population. Amount Board. applied lor by board". granted at Is per he id. £ p. d £ 8. d. Auckl md • . "8,000 0 01 121,828 6,091 8 0 T*ranaki . 2,390 0 0 11,669 677 19 0 Wanir&nul • . 7,661 14 1 82,505 1,625 6 0 Wellington . 20,934 0 o 60,841 2,642 1 0 Hftwko's Bay . f5,209 0 o 29,888 1,494 8 0 Marlborough . Nehon .. Greymouth ". }2,285 0 0 9,587 25,993 8,728 479 7 0 1,299 13 0 433 8 0 Weatl&'id — 10,168 508 8 0 N. Canterbury 12,438 0 0 100,409 5,020 0 0 S. Canterbury . 4,833 2 0 23,014 1,152 4 0 Otairo 11,750 0 0 109,210 5 462 0 0 Southland . 11,850 0 o 39,160 1,957 10 0 Total .. _ 28,617 0 0 •Also £6,000 nex 1, session. fPlus £2,400 overdraft. {£505 of this no t allowable. £ B. d. 1877 .. 46,812 7 0 1878 .. 101,26" 2 11 1879 .. 150,68 4 7 18W .. 104,436 10 8 1831 .. 64,318 0 0 1882 45,26 > 10 0 1883 .. 83,322 10 9 1884 60,475 0 0 1835 .. 69,008 15 0 1886 .. 1887 .. 60.170 14 6 60,900 0 0 Totai ., _ £825,048 8 8