EDUCATIONAL MATTERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6384, 5 December 1907, Page 6

EDUCATIONAL MATTERS

SPEECH BY THE MINISTER,

PEESS ASSOCIATION. AUCKLAND, December 4. Tlio memorial stono of the new girls’ grammar school was laid iu the presence of a large gathering this after-1 noon by the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister of Educatoin, Sir Maurice O’Rorke presiding. ! In the course of his speech Mr j Fowlds said that when the building was completed it would be the most commodious and best equipped school ■ of the kind in the Dominion. Dur-; ing tho last few years changes of al-1 most a revolutionary character hod | been made in tho system of secondary i education in Nw Zealand. The insti-! tution of the system of free places had! provided all children, whether of rich or poor parents, with facilities for obtaining a good secondary education, ! and the Government was owing almost as mtich as had been done in any other country to make the whole system of education free right from tho primary schools to tho universities. During the last quarter in the. Auckland grammar school alone 311 boys and 189 girls had participated in the benefits of those free places. Out of a total round numher of 3216 for'the high schools of the ; Dominion last year 2435, or 76 per cent,, wore at tho schools by virtue of the free nla-oes. In addition to these 2594 children were getting some mea- j sure of free secondary education at j the district high schools, most of them [ being holders of. free places. The opening of the door of free secondary education had naturally necessitated an increased expenditure on buildings. For the Tear 1994-5 the total amount expended hv the Government on hick school hnildimm was only £1915. In | tho two following years it rose to £4020 and £0875 respectively, whilst the amount for tho oorront year was no Voss than £13,800. They wore keeping thoir eyes on what was hoine done In other countries, and with the object of making the educational system in New Zealand one complete and harmonious whole. In venrs gone hy the educational system had hcen likened to a ladder. Some of the steps, however, were. lons and difficult, aud the present aim to to make tho system not a ladder, hut an inclined plane, whereby onr children would he enabled with less trouble than_ their fathers and mothers had experienced to march along, the educational pathway to higher scholastic Ho referred to the benefits that, wore expected to aoemo from the visit of the Inspector-General of Schools to the Old Country. In alluding to tho attention now given to technical education, he said that the full benefits of this system of ednetaion could not bo secured unless the literary and scientific side of education was also attended to. It was in secondary schools that the preparatory work necessary as a grounding for technical education must he carried out.