THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1901.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11602, 16 March 1901, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1901.

The Southern education boards, as well as our own, are deeply exercised over the distribution of the additional grant voted last session in aid of teachers' salaries. As would be seen by the report of the meeting of the Auckland Board in yesterday's paper, a scheme of distribution for this district has been agreed upon and forwarded to the Minister. It is to be hoped that the Government will agree to this, so that the vote may be distributed, and not be allowed to lapse at the end of March. The last word on the subject, however, is that the Government has decided to set up a Royal Commission to report on the matter of a colonial scale of salaries, and that the proposed conference will not be held. We presume, however, that the present distribution will not be delayed for the report of the i Commission. *

The administration of the Education Act is complicated :in many ways. The school teachers throughout the colony are a united and powerful body, and have a very large amount of political influence. They have been anxious to obtain a colonial, scale of salaries, and prior to the last general election they brought the subject before candidates. Ministers, however,, delayed any action till far on in the session, when they brought down a Public School Teachers' Salaries Bill. This was a most revolutionary measure. Under it, the Ministry would simply have usurped the functions of the Board, and the whole question of the salaries of teachers would have been regulated by the Central Department in Wellington. The measure, however, was 50 torn to pieces in the House that) Ministers at last modified it into a mere proposal that an additional grant should be made for the three months of this year to be applied in augmentation of teachers' salaries. The vote for the tb;ree months amounted to £8500. The Department then corresponded with the boards, asking for their suggestions, and a scheme was, submitted in November last. This, however, did not please the Department, and the matter was allowed to drag on till it seemed as if the vote would be allowed to lapse. Dr. McArthur, who is a member of the Board, is at present in Wellington, and has several times interviewed the Minister on the subject, the result bemg the proposals formulated on Thursday at the meeting of the Board. The scheme proposed will allow an increase to 750 teachers. ' At the last meeting of the Education Board of Otago, Mr. T. Mackenzie drew attention to the way in which the Bill of last session, as introduced by the Government, practically stripped the education boards of all their most valuable, functions. Under it everything was to be done by regulation from Wellington and nothing by the boards. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Mackenzie said: —

. roust confess to a - feeling of intense irritation and indignation when I consider the circumstances under which wo have to discuss this matter. It is nothing short of infamous the treatment which is being meted out to education boards. Solemn undertakings are disregarded, and boards are kept in Cimmerian darkness regarding the methods of the Department, and we are forced to endeavour to disentangle or find a key to a scheme which appears impossible of disentanglement.

It is feared that in the contest between the present system of education boards and an entirely centralised system operated from Wellington the whole of- the political powers of the teachers would be exerted in favour of suppressing the boards. There are some. 4000 teachers, and these, with their' friends, make a formidable power. The teachers in the Auckland district have special motives to favour a central system. The Southern provinces were able in the old days to make substantial foundations, and in these districts every teacher has a good house. Moreover, the Auckland Education Board, owing to the scattered settlements, has had to erect more schools, and the teachers' salaries have in consequence suffered. The appointments of teachers by the boards and committees have in many cases caused dissatisfaction, and the teachers, we suppose, are naturally inclined to think that any change would be for the better. We do not see that a Minister in Wellington could discharge the duties better, and one thing at all events is quite certain, namely, that political influence would be all-powerful. Certainly that would not be for the benefit of education.

We do not know whether the Government mean to fight the battle of centralisation on the administration of education. It cannot be denied that on that platform they will have certain advantages. The teachers will probably be on the side of centralism. We quite recognise that teachers of the same rank should be paid at the same rate throughout the colony, and that provision should Be made so that appointments should be conferred on the most able and meritorious teachers. We are quite sure, however, that these objects may be better attained by provincial than by central ■ administration. And after all, the main object of our education system is, that it shall reach to every settlement, that every man in taking up land shall be assured that the children he rears shall have an opportunity of obtaining a good education. That must not be lost sight of in the consideration of questions of convenience of officials and payment of salaries.