Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1878.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5153, 15 August 1878, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1878.

The report of the Minister of Education and its appendix contain a great deal of information in relation to the schools of the colony, but as that information relates to the past year, it can scarcely bo of so valuable a nature as we may expect to have in the next report, when the present system of I education will have reached something approaching a settled condition. The Minister refers to this point at the outset of his report, remarking that it relates to a period during which the management of the public elementary schools was provided for by a merely temporary measure, and educational affairs were consequently in a somewhat unsettled and unsatisfactory condition. There was besides considerable difficulty in obtaining for the past year information of a uniform character in several respects, owing to the diverse systems under which the public schools had been conducted in the several provincial districts, and thus many of the particulars furnished havo but little application to a system of which uniformity is a principal feature. The number of public schools in operation under Education Boards during the whole or a portion of last year was 730. We should think that the number has been considerably increased, notwithstanding that the denominational schools have been withdrawn from the Education Boards since the Act of 1877 came into force. We notice that the list given includes 44 " half-time " schools, that is, schools which are not open for the whole day. They are established in sparsely populated districts, where the number of children of school age is too small to warrant the maintenance of an ordinary school. In such cases, the report states, it has usually been found advisable to place under the charge of one teacher two small schools situated at a convenient distance from each other, the teacher dividing liis time as fairly as possible between the two schools. There were, in 1877, 30 of these schools in Auckland, 4 in New Plymouth, 6 in Wellington, and 4 in Otago. As might be expected, the average attendance at the half-time schools is extremely small, being in some instances under 15, and in nearly all under 20 pupils. The Minister points out that the question of pro-

riding for the school education of the children resident in sparsely-peopled districts is an exceedingly difficult one to solve. Limited as are the means which the Ediicatioil Boards' have at their disposal they are naturally reluctant to multiply the number of small schools, and yet there is an obligation under a national system to place the means of a good school education within the reach of the largest possible number of the youth of the colony. In this matter those education districts which have a scattered population are evidently at a disadvantage. Either they must be content to have thoiv small schools conducted by ill-paid and inefficient teachers, ov they must expend on those schools considerably more than the rate per pupil derived from the Government. The matter is one that demands the serious consideration of the Government. It is manifestly unjust that by adopting a fixed rate in the distribution of Government money greater facilities in educational affairs thould be given to those districts that are thickly popnlated than to the others. We admit j that people residing in outlying dis--1 tricts should themselves give some \ help, but there are places where the i settlers are really too poor to do as much as is needed, and these, we consider, have a valid claim, upon the Government, if a national system of education is to be thoroughly .carried out. In the Minister's supplementary report, in which the information respecting the matters referred to is brought down to the end of June last, the total expenditure on school buildings during the year 1877 is put down at £82,322 7s lOd. The £50,000 of last session was distributed among the different boards, and the vote was exceeded by £1950. The Minister appears to consider that a much larger sum will be required for the present financial yeai\ He does not say as much in so many words, but lie remarks that the effect of the passing of the Education Act has been to add lai-gely to the attendance at schools already established, and to increase the demand for new schools. He mentions that strong representations have been made by the Education Boards as to their pressing wants in respect to school buildings, and it is not unlikely that should the sum placed on the estimates for that purpose be deemed insufficient by the House, there will be no objection on the part of the Government to place a further sum for school buildings on the supplementary estimates.