NEEDS OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17256, 4 September 1919, Page 8

NEEDS OF EDUCATION.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS.

GRANT OF £3,000,000 ASKED.

BUILDINGS AND SALARIES.

[BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.]

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

A deputation received by the Prime Minister and the Acting-Minister for Education, Sir Francis Bell, this morning, representing the conference of the Schools' Committees' Association, urged the necessity for an educational grant of £3,000,000. ' Mr. J. A. Nash, member for Palmerston North, introduced the deputation, while other members present were Dr. A. K. Newman and Messrs. W. H. Field, T. A. H. Field, L. M. Isitt, G. V. Pearce. W. T. Jennings, T. K. Sidey, G. Witty, C. J. Talbot, W. A. Veitch, S. G. Smith, J. T. M. Hornsby, and E. Semple.

Messrs. Wallace and Le Grange, who placed the views of the conference before the Prime Minister, said that it was unfortunate that past Cabinets had appeared not to have realised their responsibility towards education. The conference, they explained, felt that this year's grant for education should really bo £5,000,000. The urgent needs to be covered by this sum were improvements to buildings, an increase in capitation, and an increase in teachers' salaries to a standard commensurate with the importance of the work they were doing. To be on the safe side, however, thev were suggesting only £3,000,000. The State should, they declared, in a sense conscript the child during the years of his education. Education should be entirely free, from the kindergarten to the university. The deputation deplored the condition of some of the primary school buildings in the Dominion, declaring that at Palmerston North, for example, there were schools which were not really fit to house animals.

Mr. Massey, in reply, said he could find no fault with the greater part of what the deputation had said. The school committees of New Zealand had a strong claim upon his sympathy. They were doing a great work without receiving much recognition for their efforts. More money for building purposes should certainly be made available, as promised by the late Minister for Education. He was not prepared to say what the increase would be, but he could assure them thai a larger vote would be given. That many teachers were receiving less than labourers' wages was not creditable to the country. Though the session would be a short one, he hoped that legislation dealing with education would be introduced, and thev had his assurance that, as head of the Government, he would leave nothing undone that it was in his power to do to ameliorate matters. SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. APPEAL FOR RECOGNITION. [BY TBLBGBAPH.SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, "Wednesday. A deputation from the Secondary School Assistants' Association waited upon the Acting-Minister for Education, Sir Francis Bell, this afternoon, and placed before him a request that the status and pay of its members should be improved. Mr. F. M. Renner, Wellington, said that the state of affairs was such that there was a great deal of tension among secondary school assistants. The main disabilities could lie removed by the granting of the association's request for a vote of £54.000 to mast increases in salaries. Ho said that although the teachers whom the deputation represented were responsible for educating most of ,the professional men of the Dominion their salaries averaged only £284 a year. The service was in a state of disorganisation, and it was time the Government took it over as it stood, even if it meant the pooling of the endowments. What the association would like was a definite ; scheme of salaries, for this would mean j fair treatment in the matter of superannuation. Mr. H. Robson, Blenheim, claimed that the increased capitation asked for would simply place secondary school teachers on I an equality with the staffs of the primary I schools. ! . Mr. A. C. Gifford, Wellington, put forI ward the request that the time spent by j teachers in qualifying for degrees should ,be counted in their years of service for i the purpose of the superannuation regulai tions. I Mr. H. A. Parkinson, organising secrei tary of the Educational Institute, urged ! that there should be more co-ordination in educational control and that there should be a national authority for the control of the teaching staffs of all classes of schools. ! R'r Francis Bell, in reply, said he was holding the portfolio only temporarily, and j what he sa'd could not bind the Cabinet or his successor should he relinouish control. So far as he knew the Estimates prepared by the Hon. J. A. Hanan would be such as to meet the requirements of the deputation. Dr. Anderson : To a certain extent, sir. Those Estimates, continued the Minister, would be reconsidered, so that he could ; not say what they would be ultimately. j He made no promises in detail, but he I would see that full consideration was Riven ,to the requests made. So long as he re- ' manned chairman of the Superannuation Board the real hardships pointed out ip i regard to superannuation would receive cons ; deration. There was no doubt that there was food for thought in the sugges- ' tion made concerning co-ordination.