EDUCATION IN THE BACK BLOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 4

EDUCATION IN THE BACK BLOCKS.

INTERVIEW WITH THE HON. G.

FOWLDS.

GRANTS FOR BUILDING NEW

SCHOOLS.

The comments on the question of education in the back blocks which have appeared in the Herald during the past two or three days formed the subject of some inquiries which a Herald representative made yesterday from the Hon. G. Fowlds, Minister for Education.

"The desire of the Government," said Mr. Fowlds, "is to place an efficient education within the reach of every child, but it must be obvious to everyone that there must be a limit to all possibilities. Supposing there is a child in an isolated place 15 or 20 miles from any other child it would clearly be absurd to talk of building a school and engaging a teacher for thatone child. The Department, however, provides a capitation grant of £6 for each child so situated, and this is a higher sum than is paid in regard to children so situated by any other country in the world. If within a reasonable radius there were, say, 10 children, this capitation would provide a salary of £60, sufficient to secure the services of a properly-certificated teacher . The boarding of the teacher and the provision of a room in which the teaching could be carried on should not be a difficult matter for the settlers to undertake."

Speaking generally in regard to newlysettled districts, Mr. Fowlds said the Department preferred in cases where the number of pupils did not exceed from 15 to 20 to hire a building rather than erect a building on a Site which subsequent developments of settlement might prove to have been the • wrong place. The Department was also willing to make a payment of sixpence a day per child for the conveyance of children in these districts to the nearest schools.

"But in many of the Auckland districts there are no passable roads in' the winter, and a difficulty exists in regard to the conveyance of the children." " That is so," assented the Minister.

The reporter drew attention to the remarks made by the chairman of the Education Board in regard to the information which the Department insisted should accompany applications for building grants. "Considering," said Mr. Fowlds, " that the Department provides the whole of the money, it is absolutely necessary that we should make very minute inquiries, in order to satisfy ourselves that the school is actually required. If the settlers in the locality affected. wore providing part of the money it would be a simple matter for the Department to say, " We will give you a subsidy;" but when the Government provides all the money, the position is different. The maps and information supplied require careful checking. In many cases it has been found, when an application has been made for a new school in respect of, say, 10 children, that perhaps nine of them are within three miles of an existing school, \ and perhaps actually attending such school. Again, mistakes of, the wildest character often occur in the maps forwarded. The positions of existing schools are not always correctly shown, and in one particular case a school was found on inquiry to be seven miles from the spot indicated on the map. I do not blame the boards, who have not always the means of verifying the information sent to them. These matters, of course, take time to adjust, and-there is no undue delayon the part of the Department in doing so/' " Apart from the . question of responsibility, the fact remains that a number of children in the back blocks are growing up without the means of education/' remarked the interviewer.

"That may be so, but-the parents are responsible," rejoined the Minister. "As I have already told you, we pay £6 a head in regard to such children, and where there are even only five or six of them the residents can combine and get a household school." ■;-.-

Asked whether he had in view any alterations of regulations in regard to these isolated district*;, Mr. Fowlds said he was not satisfied with the present method under which the Department makes separate grants for specific cases, and he was considering the question of an annual allocation of a lump sum to the boards for the building of new schools. "At present," he said, "we depend very largely on the information supplied by the boards, and it would, perhaps, be better that the whole responsibility should be placed on them,"

"What would he the basis of these grants?"' "That is where the difficulty would come in. It would have to be either on a basis of population or average attendance. It might be given on the basis of the annual increase of attendance, but the matter is one that requires careful consideration, in order to get a satisfactory automatic method of distribution."'

Mr. Fowlds added : " One great difficulty in connection with our education system at. the present time is the fact that a large amount of work has been forced upon the Department through changes that were inevitable. • The colonial scale of salaries and the superannuation scheme have both tended towards centralisation. At the same time there is a certain degree of dual control in connection with the buildings. The boards' inspectors, not being responsible to the Department, the latter is at some pains to get reports from inspectors who are not influenced by local prejudices."'