Manawatu Daily Times SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1925. Secondary Education.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2314, 5 December 1925, Page 8

Manawatu Daily Times SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1925. Secondary Education.

Acting upon the suggestion of Sir James Parr, the Minister of Education, the executive of the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Association has been examining closely the re. port obtained by the Minister from Mr Tate, a high- Australian educational authority, on the education system of the Dominion, and the conclusions It has reached as a result of its investigations are summarised by Mr F. M. Renner, the honorary secretary of the Association. The summary is far too lengthy even for condensation here, but a paragraph referring to technical schools has such a- wide application at the present time that it is entitled to the utmost publicity. “The teachers in technical schools.” it runs, "are not trained experts; they are not kept closely in touch with Actual industries; they do not go high enough into specialised technical work. The technical high schools have attracted quantify rather than qualify,, and the so-called technical education embraces much that is too general and that ought to he cut out. Technical education in New Zealand is, frankly, a misnomer. It is vocational training, The name technical is in many instances so much camouflage.” The subject obviously Is an extremely delicate one, there being technical

schools and technical schools, hut it Is notorious that some of the Institutions of the Iclnd about the country servo no useful purpose. The Disputed Elections. Now that Mr McCombs has lodged a petition in the Lyttelton election, the result is once more open to al. teration ,and cannot be discussed with freedom. The. interest from a party point of view in the two disputed elections centres round tnu composition of the Official Opposition. If Labour should recover the two seats it would supplant the Liberals in the occupancy of the benches immediately on the left of the Speaker, and Mr H. E. Holland would enjoy all the privileges tradition and precedent have conferred on the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition. If, on the other hand, Mr Scddon should ho confirmed in possession of the Westland scat, and Mr Lyons in possession of the Lyttelton seat, the Liberals would continue to exercise the functions of the party in the direct lino of succession. The balance between the Liberal Party and the Labour Party is now so closely adjusted That the scale may bo definitely tipped by thfc decisions in Lyttelton and Westland. The Reformers have little need to bo concerned about the results, but to the two other parties they are o! substantial importance.