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New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6819, 25 September 1883, Page 4

We think that the '.governors of the College and Grammar School- should,; now thf.c the ■ close "of. the session has set free those'of-'their number who have until lately been detained, at Wellington by their Parliamentary duties', ad-' dress themselves'to the work of deciding upon a system of scholarships to be maintained but, of. the, .funds at their; disposal.' With , regard/to this matter 'the stace of ailairs is '; as follows Towards the close of last year the head-master of the College and Grammar School addressed' to the governors a report in -.which he expressed a very decided opinion,. that the regulations 'under which scholars.were elected ,by the Board of. Education, and received into the,. College and Grammar School with ..the"-' privilege of' free tuition, "especially that which allowed boys up to.the.age of seventeen to compete, were' detrimental to - the • interests of both, the scholars and the school. After consideration of his views—which were, we ■believe,'''at least, as regards the question of■ age,'.-similar'to-,those.for-merly .expressed.', by ths' late ■ headmaster —the"'"governors -made "overtures to' the. Hoard . of ' Education with the -view of arriving, at an understanding,' and obtaining.S'jch alterations as would, in their opinion, be beneficial. The attempt, however, proved abortive. '■Not"'only did the Board of Education refuse to.make any concession .; it took action in the contrary . direction, abolishing the limit of age which had until that time been enforced. This it did in conformity with an interpretation of a clause of the Education Act, which was then for the first time advanced, and which, if valid, would convict every Board of Education in

the colony of law-breaking, and «»,« P cessive Ministers or -Education of Banc '51 tioning the breaches. At the saine- |l time it resolved todiscontinuethegrant- r ing of open scholarships. Thus disap* H pointed in the hope of concerted action f- | and thrown back upon Board ~ of Governors turned its attention fa. the question of founding scholarships fi of its own.' A committee was appointed » to make recommendations after, confer- r ence with the head-master. Its report * was brought up at the next general f meeting of the Board ; but, as by thi3 V time three members of the Board had' . left for Wellington, and further, a I' legal difficulty had been raised, it was e, resolved to await the return of t a p- f absent governors before considering I the recommendations made. In. this * we think the Board did rightly. It ig r~— ' undoubtedly desirable that, when con-""' % sidering a. matter of such importance ~2 it should be at its full strength, and £> should avail itself of the wisdom of all, \ its members. Now, however, there f can be no reason for further delay. FWe are within a very "measurable- p distance" of the time at which were I' 1 the open scholarships still in existence f ! —the examinations for this year would; ' '' be held ; and no doubt the parents of « those who would be competitors are- ' anxious to know whether any similar \ ' \ scholarships are to replace these; anj f that, if so, the first election should \ take place before their sons become i ■; disqualified. k * : The report of the committee to P • which we have referred appeared in y r full in our issue of July 6th jit may ff • be well if we briefly summarise it here. £ > First, it was pointed out that, in giving f ' free tuition to the boys sent up by the I '• Board of Education, the governors had f 3 been doing more than was perhaps \ '» generally understood, iaasmueh as the 1 r cost to the Board of each hoy in the J * school, and especially of each boy in I ■J the upper school, is by no means "■ covered by the fee charged to those t a who are not scholars. Statistics were l l * then given as to the working of the I existing system, tending to support " the contention of the governors that f

that system is such as to minimise .the- VI usefulness of the scholarships. Purtlier, a it was pointed out that the winning of p a district scholarship by a boy yopng § enough to use the College and Grammar- fe School as a stepping stone to If education, though common enough ia fe the early days of the system, is p and will in future, be ah improbable |S contingency. Attention was called te £ the very limited extent to which the h winners of certificates of proficiency §j had availed themselves of the privi- p leges of free-tuition, and also to the- 6 fact that, now that it has discontinued, m the granting of open scholarships, the |1 Auckland Board of Education, alone- B amongst the more important Boards,: |J confines the benefits which it has to f : bestow to boys and girls from its own ff schools. The recommendations withi rf which the report concluded are as ff follow:—The governors should stand ft by their offer to continue the grant- || ing of free tuition to district scholars | and winners of certificates, with the | object of "offering every encouragement If within their means to all those boys who y show a capacity and disposition to pro-. \ ■ ceed to a higher education than they | can obtain at the district I leaving the onus of ill-advised regnk- f tions on those who have the power of 1 making and insisting on them." Hey |- should in addition grant six founda- || tion scholarships, open to all comers |j under the age of thirteen, and three |f open to all comers between the ages of |1 fourteen and sixteen, the latter cany- |] ing, besides free tuition, a payment of | £40 per annum, and tenable until the 1} age of eighteen, The number of scholar- jjf

ships to be increased when the state of. the funds permits. These proposals are, of course,' ia outline only, and open to modification, but they seem to us to offer the basis of a satisfactory settlement. It will be seen that the governors are recommended to waive the claim whfcß might reasonably be founded upon the very considerable extent of their coatribution to the value of the district scholarships to a voice in the settlement of the regulations, and, in addition, to found distinct scholarships oe> a scale as liberal as the funds at their disposal will permit. The junior scholarships, indeed, would not, carry a money payment, but such a payment is not needed in the case of yosng boys, whilst the payment to senior scholars would be more liberal than that attached to district scholarships} the average age being lower and the tenure in all cases as long, and in most

longer. ■ These scholarships, although open to all corners within the prescribed linufe'of age, would not be available for district scholars, unless elected at a lo^ ; age than under present regulatipas £'• likely. The responsibility for thisj, however, would not rest with p e ~ governors. . It cannot be expected tMJj. they should impair the usefulness* ■ their scholarships in. order to make them supplementary to a system wfacß' . they - consider ill-advised, and whicß' , they have in vain endeavoured by conciliatory proposals to get modified. ■continuing to attach the privilege cj free education to scholarships grants : under this system they would be doing ..all. that would be expected of them- ! Nor is it easy to see how any satisfactory arrangement could be made wbiw . ..would ...render it possible for distntf : .scholars ..,to ■. avail themselves ofHH e ; :boon. A district scholar elected at JM; age of fifteen or sixteen would "district scholarship until he bad attained . that of seventeen oririor could he possibly be lit to compete : for a higher scholarship, sooner, and » ask him to, devote two or three rssfi years to school work after that &g e would be idle. ; We do not, however, despair of seeing wiser counsels prevail at the B?~~ of Education. The disadvantages of tee system which it and it alone among" the. Boards of the colony at present maintains, practically rendering it possible for the boys who win «? scholarships to use them, as theyong to be used, as stepping stones to son l thing further, are so obvious that * cannot believe that they will be rated for long. Possibly pique has_W something to do with the B action hitherto ; when that feeling ?* had time to evaporate calmer will, no doubt, discover the •*&* which is being done to theyoutii 0 Auckland. , -~ One word more. Both been confronted by real or fancied $F difficulties: each has consisted, gentleman who is the legal adws#:v, : | both by telegram. That nofr in Auckland. Would it W J\

-ee===r themselves ■ forth :rtun ty SMy their diffi- • of the opportunj him . by 40 ltiesroore tm> &om him a ful of ffloutb, of the law 1 and u/found that the wordShould it f*t really suc h as to' jng of A cte n £it it will be time to defeat tbe f two into hartake steps to w™"e geveral t i mes stated mony. -W8 J» we think the greatest a pk" b ? W Sd be obtained by both - advantages■ w . cleverest boys in institutions,» fee given the Opporthe the highest education. n^WfeTconcerned have a vital Both b ? m^ ig The Grammar School interest remember that they public money for the adadminiscer com munity, and also vantage <« f m t(ie common that the Pl cked b jystr do bonoufto the school and themselves.