WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Evening Star, Issue 19329, 16 August 1926, Page 10

WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

FIMHSE [Contributed by tho Local Branch.] Clause 21 of tho New Zealand University Amendment Act, at present before Parliament, threatens to effect a serious cramping of the work of the W.E.A. throughout the dominion, and as it appears that the effect of the clause on W.E.A. finance was not realised either when it was originally drafted or when later it was submitted to representatives of the colleges, it is hoped that an amendment will be introduced before the Act is finally passed. Hitherto voluntary contributions to tho work of the W.E.A. have been subsidised by the Government on tho £ for £ basis, and last year rather more than £1,300 was paid in this way. It is now provided that the £ for £ subsidy shall bo payable only on gilts which are definitely earmarked for capital endowment. In other cases the subsidy is to be reduced to 10s for £l, and even then the subsidy so paid must bo treated as a capital investment. For the University as a whole the new clause is not disadvantageous, for tho limit hitherto placed on subsidies on bequests disappears; but for the W.E.A. tho effect is disastrous. Members of the W.E.A. may be excused if, as they watch their own activities contrasting, they find little comfort from observing the growth of valuable capital investments for other aspects of the work of the University. This year it is estimated that tho share of subsidy for Otago and southland will be about £3OO. The effect of the new clause will be to deprive us or a revenue of £3OO and to substitute in place thereof a capital sum of Llol), which, even it were added to and allowed to accumulate each year, would not before a considerable period had elapsed make possible tho financing of even'a single class. In the meantime our programme would immediately be cut down by at least four classes, and those would almost inevitably have to be classes to which tutors with specialised qualifications have been appointed, and on which to a considerable extent tho desirable and essential variety of the W.E.A. work depends. It may, indeed, bo over-optimistic to suppose that under tho altered circumstances the How of voluntary contributions will continue unabated, for the knowledge that a gift of £1 was worth £2 to the association has been a powerful stimulus to the generosity of private individuals and local governing bodies. These facts have been pressed upon the attention of tho Minister of Education both by the Dominion Council and from Dunedin, and the Minister explains that the reduction of subsidy is “ tho effect of the now clauses rather than deliberate intention.” It is indeed scarcely conceivable that had these effects been understood the Minister ■would have concealed them from tho deputation which recently waited upon him in Wellington. Tho fact that the W.E.A. is a part of the University seems indeed to have been completely overlooked. Under these circumstances it is confidently expected that the Minister will agree to the insertion of provisions in tho Act which will protect tho W.E.A. The proposed saving to the Treasury is very small,_ and quite out of proportion to tho serious injury which would bo inflicted on the W.E.A. On any reasonable interpretation of the meaning of economy tho change would be distinctly uneconomic. In the meantime it is still true, at least until the end of the veur, that every £1 given to tho W.KA. brings £2 into its revenues. CLASS PROGRAMMES.

The work of several classes has been interrupted during the last fortnight by the illness of tutors, but in nearly every case now tho interruption has ceased. Mr M'Cruckcn was confiued to has bed for a week, hut his health is now much improved, and he xn'°P of;es to resume work this week. Dr Holloway’s botany class, which was suspended for a fortnibgt, will also resume work next Friday, August 20. In the meantime it was possible to make temporary arrangements for a substitute in some cases, though not in all. Mr Ross acted as substitute for Mr Souter at Outram, ami at Palmerston last week spoke on tnc work of Bernard Shaw. At tho Labor Club room on Friday he discussed New Zealand and world history, and at tho railway class on Sunday morning tho failure of Labor Governments. The previous Sunday Dr Fisher spoke to the railway class on the French financial problem, and a week earlier the members of this class displayed admirable initiative by organising at very short notice an independent discussion on unemployment. At tho next meeting of the Y.W.C.A. class Miss Perry will speak on some experiments in conditions of work and their effect on production. During September Mr 11. Fawcett will give three lectures on psychological problems associated with questions of vocational guidance; and in October Mr T. Somerville will speak on problems of women in industry from the point of view of an employer. Mr James Hogg, the president of the Manufacturers’ Association, had originally agreed to do this, hot pressure of other business has compelled him to find a substitute. By a rearrangement of classes the W.E.A. in Southland lias found it possible to include in its programme a short series of lectures at Gorge road, a saw-milling Centre which hitherto tire W.E.A. has not touched.