EDUCATION BILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23000, 30 March 1938, Page 16

EDUCATION BILL

OPPOSITION VOICED DIVISION OF DISTRICT COMMENTS BY MR. WELLS Opposition to the division of the Auckland education district, as proposed in the Education Amendment Bill recently introduced in Parliament by the Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Eraser, was expressed by the chairman of the Auckland Education Board, Mr. T. U. Wells, at a meeting of the board yesterday. Mr. Wells and Mr. T. Dunlop, secretary of the board, will attend a conference of education boards in Wellington to-day to discuss the changes contemplated in the bill. The provisions affecting the Auckland district were explained by Mr. Dunlop, who pointed out that the area, vh.ch at present extended from North Cape to Taumarunui, would be subdivided into three. North Auckland, with headquarters at Whangarei, would contain 206 schools with about 10,000 pupils; Auckland would administer 196 schools attended by more than 30,000 children; while South Auckland, with headquarters at Hamilton, would comprise 275 schools with a student population in excess of 20,000.

In opposing the subdivision, Mr. Wells pointed out that administration costs per head for the present Auckland district were about half that of the much smaller Nelson area. The appointment of two more boards would lessen the amount of money available for purely educational purposes. It was absurd, said Mr. Wells, that the northern Hauraki Plains and Wellslord and Warkworth should be excluded from the Auckland area. Under the bill grammar schools and technical schools would come within the control of education boards, and native schools also should be included. Mr. Wells also opposed the provision for training colleges at Hamilton and Whangarei, as there were no university classes in these towns.