THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1884.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6996, 19 April 1884, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1884.

Nothisg could better illustrate the necessity for some essential change in the system of finance on. which our education system has been conducted than the position in which the Auckland Education Board now finds itself. As agreed to at a former meeting, application was made to the Bank of New Zealand for an overdraft of £6000 to meet demands on the building fund and other current liabilities; but, as will appear from the correspondence submitted to the meeting yesterday, the Bank declined acceding to the request until an appropriation is made by Government to meet the advance. In a telegram from the Secretary to the Premier the Bank's refusal is attributed to the statements made in the Premier's speech at Hawera, to the effect that the amount set apart for school buildings out of the last three million loan was exhausted, and that he did not think the House would borrow more money for such a purpose. The probability is that the inference made by the Board is so far quite correct, but it is worthy of note that in his communication to the Board the Bank manager does not actually say that the declinature was due to that cause. This creates the impression that the Bank authorities may have had other reasons in addition to the one referred to by the Secretary, for taking the course they did. With the fact before them that the tendency of all the Education Boards was to incur liabilities in excess of the sum appropriated to them, and that in some instances legal proceedings" had arisen out . of their recklessness, these authorities might not feel themselves justified in encouraging the Auckland Board to anticipate their future revenue even if that had been assured to them. But the existing condition of the Colonial Treasury is not such as to warrant any person, and especially a banker, in expecting the House of Representatives to be liberal in their vote for school building purposes ; and it is just possible that during next session there may be no vote at all for such purposes. These circumstances taken in conjunction with the statements made by .the Treasurer at Hawera, could hardly fail to make the Bank averse to granting the Board the accommodation wanted. It was natural enough that the manager should wish to know where the refund was to come from and when it could be reckoned on, and on these points there was no assurance. Major Atkinson, it is true, in his reply to the tele- • gram from the Board, states that he is quite clear that some provision must be made for school buildings, and that he had said so. But that was not in his speech as reported, and even if it had been it is doubtful whether it would have materially affected the decision of the Bank. A copy of the Major's reply was, it will be seen, ordered by the Board to be forwarded to the Bank, in the hope, it is presumed, that the effect of it may.be to induce the manager to make some concession, but the assurance given in the Premier's words is of too vague a character to render such a result at all probable. The truth is that the members of the Board have been 1 unwisely, and even blindly, reckoning on money which they had no certainty of obtaining., Those of their number who are members of the House ought, at all events, to have known better, as they could scarcely fail'to be aware of the fact announced by the Premier that the amount in the schedule of the three million loan, set apart for school buildings, had beer exhausted with the last allocation oi £50,000. In the speech with which he introduced the Three Million Loan Bill of 1882, the Treasurer stated thai £300,000 was the amount allocated for public buildings, and, in justification ol this large appropriation, he said that whereas we had been spending about £100,000 a-year on school buildings, ■ we would not be able to apply to this > purpose more than, one-half that sum— that is, £150,000 —during the next three years. Of this amount, as statec ■in his speech at Hawera, £50,000 wai spent last year, and £82,000 the yeai previous. The balance, we presume, tnusl have been anticipated by; liabilities which the Boards, following their usua' habit, had incurred prior to the passing of the Loan Bill. At all events th< whole amount is gone, and the questioi for. the Boards, riot the Banks, to con aider is where and how are the fundi

to -be obtained to - meetthe - • engagements they may have rashly contracted i " It is a serious question., not only for them, but for the Legislature and the country at large. The prospect of securing a. portion of next million loan • is., very small, -and indeed,it.may beheld as,certain, that relief from that source., "will .be looted for in' vain. And if not from, that: source, then from -what other, source is it to cornel With a falling revenue, it is difficult to see how a further burden of £50,000 can be imposed on the general Treasury, and the option therefore seem 3 to be between the imposition of a special tax and the placing of our ■ educational system of finance on an entirely different basis from that now in force. One thing is certain, that' things cannot go on much longer as they are, and another is equally certain that, -whatever method may be devised for carrying on and extending the educational machinery of the country, the vicious practice which the Boards have contracted of .mortgaging their income must be imperatively pub a stop to. If . the action of the Bank in refusing to accede to the Auckland Board's application for an overdraft should contribute to this result an important service will thus have been rendered to the country.