PREMIER ON EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13160, 25 April 1906, Page 6

PREMIER ON EDUCATION.

NEGLECT OF BACK BLOCKS. SCHOOL COMMITTEES AND APPOINTMENTS. [BY TELEGRAPH.— OWN correspondent.] • Wellington". Tuesday. The duty of opening up a new district liicrh school at Master-ton yesterday led the Premier to make some remarks about education matters generally. He was glad, he said, that the proposal to set aside a million acres as an endowment for educational purposes had been well received throughout the colony and. even though late in the day, lie contended that it was wise that such a course should be taken. Two hundred and four thousand acres would be set apart as an endowment for education in the Wellington educational district. If they were to make amends for the past it would be scant justice to set aside haif-a-million acres in this district. Mr. Seddon went on to give figures .showing the development of education from 1902 to ISOS. In regard to the attendance it had for years been a standing blot upon the colony that the attendance at the schools was practically stationary, but during the past three years there had been an increase of 5599. It ought to have been at least 15,000, and he hoped that during the next three years there would be an increase of 20,000. The number of pupil-teachers had decreased by 69, but teachers' salaries had increased by £24,318, and under the still more liberal scale of salaries set by the Act of last session, the increase in the amount this year would be £491.506, an increase of £72.941, as, compared with 1902. In regard to education generally, he thought they were lacking in what was practical, and that a great deal of time was taken up in what was not of real service to the children. Then, in regard to school committees, an Act was passed ■last session providing that they should be consulted in regard to the selection of teachers, but the spirit of the Act had not been complied with by some Boards, and if anyone was to be blamed for a defect in the Act lie would accept the responsibility. However, one of the first measures that would be submitted to Parliament next session would be one which >vould insist that where there was more than one applicant for a teachership, or even one applicant, it should be sent to the committee, and that the Board must act on the advice of the committee in making the selection. That was the intention of Parliament, but some, of the Boards had departed entirely from the spirit of the legislation, and had simply sent the name ,>f one applicant, with the result that committees had declined to recommend, and yet the appointment had been made by the Board. That was a clear evasion of the spirit of the legislation, and it would be for Parliament to deal with the matter. He desired to see more done in the country districts and in the country schools. It,-was not fair that parents who went into the back blocks, (and took their children there from favoured localities, to carve out homes in the bush, should be forced to penalise their children for all time, but such was the case, and it should be rectified as soon as possible. It was quite enough for parents to sacrifice themselves as pioneers, without penalising thenchildren. He would like to have agricultural classes attached to the schools, and to have teachers sent there to give manual instruction and technical education, so that fanners' sons and daughters might be taught what scientific farming really meant. Those back blocks dwellers would read, of the opening of the new district high school at Masterton, and would ask what was being done for them. The answer was practically nothing. That must lie rectified, and he believed that Parliament would give the necessary funds. The sooner they got to work in that direction the better it would be for the rising generation of New Zealand.