THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9065, 28 May 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1888.

We learn from Wellington that in his place in the House the Minister of Education has declared that in the interests of education geuerally, and of eoonomy more particularly, the abolition of the Boards of Education ia to be desired ; and it is told us also that his statement to that effect -was very cordially received. Without questioning the services which Boards of Education may have rendered to the cause, we can hardly be surprised at this. The revelations that have been made as to the great extravaganoe that has attended the administration of these Boards, and more particularly in respect of the cost needlessly incurred in school buildings, must have prepared the colony for such an eventuality. From the paper submitted to the Assembly recently by the Minister of Education, and which we reviewed at some length at the time of the Minister's visit to this district, it appeared that even if the provinces before their abolition had not expended any money on the erection of school buildings—which in the South at least was very far from the fact— there had been enough expended from borrowed money during the last ten years to provide for the legitimate requirements of education, and for the increase of the population for ten years to come ; and yet there has come up this year from all the Boards of Education a demand for more money for school buildings, to an extent i some three times the whole amount that

can possibly be available) for the year. In this particular department of extravagance the Auckland Board of Education has been a sinner beyond the rest, and it appears from this return that, recognising a certain average which has been estimated as per caput, to supply accommodation for children, the Auckland Board has spent overtwo and a half times that amount. It is true that Auckland stood in a different position from the Southern provinces in starting, inasmuch as at abolition we had almost no school accommodation, and it may further be urged that the scattered nature of our country settlements entailed more expense in school buildings than was the case of some other provincial districts. But making those allowances the extravagance has been very startling, and must make Auckland at least silent in protesting against the abolition of such a wasteful system. But it is by their general, and apparently irremediable, tendency to extravagance that the system of district Boards will stand condemned ; for it is in the nature of things that a body which has the spending of public money over a wide area, without any responsibility, and without being in any way concerned in the raising of it by taxation, must necessarily be free from all wholesome restraints. A certain sum being annually granted by the Legislature, it is the business of the Board to spend that; and under no system of retrenchment or economy is it supposed that any portion of that sum ought to go back to the general revenue. Accordingly, if at a time of a " roar" for retrenchment there is a cutting down of salaries or amalgamation of offices by a Board of Education, anything so saved is likely to be expended in the erection of an additional school building in some outlying district, unwarranted either by the number of pupils or the extension of education. There can be no doubt that everything else being equal, local administration ought to be less costly than administration from a distance ; and if there wore any reason existing, such as acts on the administration of our charitable aid, and if the fang of increased local taxation was felt the moment the administrative body exceeded what was necessary, we might have reason to regret local administration being superseded by central authority. But from the very nature of things, confirmed by experience all over the colony, the irresponsible and unrestrained extravagance of these Boards of Education has become a burthen too great to be borne, and it i 3 not in the least surprising that the prospect of the abolition of the Boards was cordially received in the Assembly. It will no doubt be with a wrenoh to the feelings that many districts will see the removal of this last remnant, as it were, of provincial institutions ; and it is deplorable that the misconduct of those entrusted with it should have been the sole cause of its removal. No less a sum than £847,865 of borrowed money has been expended on the erection of school buildings, chiefly wooden, during the past ten years, a sum 57 per cent, in excess of what would have been sufficient to provide accommodation in school buildings of brick or stone for every child of school age at the present time in the colony. This is enough to cause a shock to the public sense of the colony, when it is considered that this waste in school buildings must necessarily have been paralleled by the waste in some half a million sterling and upwards of revenue each year passing through the same irresponsible and reckless hands. Of course it is years ago that the Boards should have been called to account; but in this as in everything else the colony was infatuated; and so long as the borrowed money came rolling in, supplying any hiatus in revenue, nobody felt the twinge. One or the other of two courses, however, now only remains ; either these Boards of Education must be absolutely abolished, and the administration of the education funds be taken up by the Department and the Minister, who are responsible to the Assembly, which is what the Minister and apparently the House seem to favour; or the Boards of Education must be burthened with the duty of raising at least a portion of the money required for carrying on education in the district. We see the wholesome effect of local taxation in restraining the extravagance of the Charitable Aid Board, and we have little doubt it would have a similar effect on the Boards of Education. Of course, so far as the burthen on the public is concerned, it signifies practically nothing whether the money is paid through the general revenue, or through a household or capitation or district tax in some form ; it comes from the pockets of the people all the same; and if the Board of Education in its constitution were brought into closer relation with the ratepayers as ite constituency, we would have little fear of the Board being allowed to carry on with such shameful extravagance as has characterised the past. Either this course must be taken or the Boards must be absolutely abolished. Their extravagant administration certainly seems to demand their extinction, but whatever i 3 to bo done, we earnestly hope that this session will not pass away without their powers of wasteful expenditure and irresponsible administration being summarily ended.