NEEDS OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17276, 27 September 1919, Page 8

NEEDS OF EDUCATION.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS, COUNCIL OF CONTROL WANTED. TEACHERS' SALARY QUESTION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, Friday. Delegates to the Education Boards' conference to-day met the Ministers fop Education and Finance, and members of Parliament, and laid before them iiie various decisions of the conference, and also offered suggestions as to th 9 future policy of the .Department. Mr. F. Pirani said there was an agreement between the teachers' institutes, Education Boards, and school committees that an administrative council of education was wanted. The manner in which the council was to be appointed ■was a matter of detail, so long as the Education Department, as part of the Civil Service, was abolished. With regard to bringing down new legislation, Mr. Pirani voiced the opinion of the conference that Education Boards be consulted before questions went to Parliament. He urged the necessity of providing accommodation for girls coming from the country to attend training colleges. Referring to administration generally, Mr. Pirani said education was a matter of national importance, and should be entirely above party politics in that respect. Voluntary workers on education boards were entirely free of the official spirit which handicapped the Department. Sir Francis Bell, replying to the statement that inadequate salaries were offered by the Department, said he did not deny that salaries should be increased- Thera were very many first-rate men in the Department, so the argument that the right men were not attracted fell §hort. The Government could not offer salaries equal to those offered by private concerns, that were willing to pay for quite exceptional men. It was essential that there should be a scheme of graduation throughout the public service. Sir James Allen, referring to the greater salaries paid by business concerns than could be paid by the Government, made a point that private businesses did not hold out to the same degree that sense of security to their workers in later years, which the Government offered by the superannuation scheme. CONFERENCE 07 BOARDS ENDED. GRANTS MADE TO COMMITTEES. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.} WELLINGTON, Friday. The Education Boards' Conference concluded to-day. A series of technical remits passed by the recent conference of directors of technical schools was affirmed. Delegates decided to recommend th;,i the Education Departnient be asked to confer with the secretaries of education hoards when administrative changes of an important nature are contemplated. Mr. F. Pirani mentioned that the Minister for Education, Sir Francis Bell, had said in course of conversation that education boards had no right to make grants to school committees out of their general funds, and, further, that boards which do provide such funds to committees, gave him an argument lor the reduction of grants to boards, which, though they were under the impression that they were treating committees libera,llv, were actually misusing their funds. . A remit was carried recommending that in each school of grade four and upward an assembly hall b: provided. It was also decided to form an Education Boards Association, and Mr T. Forsyth (chairman of the Wellington Education Board) was elected firsi president of the executive, which is to be comprised of one member from each board district.