Grey River Argus THURSDAY, March 17th, 1932, A DANGER TO EDUCATION.

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1932, Page 4

Grey River Argus THURSDAY, March 17th, 1932, A DANGER TO EDUCATION.

In the cut of about £370,000 which the National Expenditure Commission lias recommended in the sphere of education there are inanv items that do not by any

stretch of imagination mean genuine economy. The fact that in the State Schools the cost per pupil is nearly £ll per annum is contrasted by the Commission with the admittedly much, smaller outlay in pre-war times, when the contribution per head of population to the service was about £1 3s, as against £2 8s to-day. The outlay in 1914 was say £1.300,000 in comparison to about three and a-half millions in 1931, but there has since been a substantial increase not only in pupils but in subjects taught, and this diversity of the curriculum has doubtless afforded necessary scope for talents previously neglected. But leaving the general question aside, when the Commission goes the length of menacing the facilities for bringing country children within reach of the admittedly higher education obtainable in towns, by proposing to almost halve the allowance for their con-

veyance to the schools they are now attending, it is time to ask whether such idea of economy is not mere parsimony or miserliness. A plea is made for correspondence courses, which, however, cost £6 per child per annum, and there is nobody who would concede that the difference in the outlay is not relatively far less than the difference in the value, and utility of the education by correspondence as contrasted with that of the education in the ordinary schools, ft is all very well to say that correspondence is all that is needed, but where are the results to be shown that will prove the contention? They are at best bound uj> with the problematical future. The Commission alludes to the railway transport of pupils as being excessively costly, but as a matter of common knowledge the cost can be actually written down as nothing at all, because there is probably not one train in the whole country run for school children, or one that, now used by them, would not run if they were not. aboard. The Commission, contrary to Ministerial elec-tion-time primises, proposes to

wipe out one grade of country schools entirely. The only con-

.vjveyaiice it. would countenance would be such as would obviate the erection of new schools, or enable the closing of existing ones. AU of the higher schools have pupils who come considerable distances, and many of these v ill only be lost, and their future perhaps blasted, if they are obliged to pay for their transport. Take the case of the local Technical School, where at least onethird of the pupils, or 110, come by trains. The Principal has pointed out that if the Commission had its way the attendance would drop very considerably. A delegate to the Farmers’ Union Provincial Executive this week pointed out that in South Westland the conveyance of children to larger schools from country areas has meant a saving of £BOO annually. From various primary schools in the country districts more than one hundred pupils each week come to Greymouth for a half day’s manual training. To the high schools at Hokitika, ami Reetfoii numbers of children travel by train, and in addition to these there is also a considerable number of pupils of private secondary schools travelling by train on the West Coast. The position in this province is reflected in almost every other one, and it is safe to say that if the cut in the expenditure upon school transportation which the Commission suggests were to be made, it would strike a blow at the education of as deserv-i ing & class of scholars as any in' the country, namely, those reared in the rural districts. One result would be to intensify the present' tendency of people to congregate in urban masses, where congestion is a growing evil. Parents are disposed, even if commissions are not, to make sacrifices to have their children educated, and would not hesitate in many cases to abandon the country for that object alone. The W<est Coast is a district where travel facilities for country pupils are specially necessary. It would be the worst service which the Government could render the noble enterprise of , education here should it sane-.

lion the destruction of the various facilities which local authorities and enthusiasts have in the course of years contrived in order to bring a better standard of instruction within the reach of the greatest possible number of the rising generation.