ELECTION OF EDUCATION BOARDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7020, 7 January 1910, Page 2

ELECTION OF EDUCATION BOARDS

(To the Editor ” N.Z. Times.”) Sir,—Aflter a number of unsuccessful efforts to obtain a fitrtught-out vote of • tbe Educational institute on this important question I have come to the ; conclusion that your readers form a better court of appeal than even my brethren. X hope, therefore, that my i present effort may be loonsidered of • merit, sufficient to warrant its admission to your columns. It has Jong been a nftitter of amaze- ; ment to me that a democratic country L like this .should have so long toxbmitced ■ to the state of affairs existent in con- - nection with the election of our Boards ■ of Look filth at the elec--1 tion of school committees. The mem bens of school committees are elected,by 3 the householders. True, but as a matfc ter of experience, what prox>ortton ot s householders attend the meetings? A ■ very small one indeed. In U large town with which I am acquainted, a town > with a population of close on ten thouT sand, under one • hundred people as a - general thing attend, and that, I be--1 lieve, ‘is 'the rule throughout the i)o----t minion. Can it be said that school coms mittees represent the householders? 1 Well, these elect the Boards of EduY cation. They themselves hold office for 3 one yeur, and they elect board members - to serve .for three years. Who shall - bring board members to book for acting 1 that the electors do not approve of? y No one ever does, and the result is f that , Boards of Education can do just as they please consistent with keeping It within the four cornel’s of the Educob tion Act. t Will you permit me to give your - readers a, few figures just to show them 1 what important work boards huve to - do, what large powers' they wield, ‘and i what huge sums of, ppublic money’they ? handle. To be perfectly impersonal ;1 a take Wellington education district,. in r which I have no interests whatever, c This is a large embracing (1 L, regret I have no statistics later th*on s 1907) 151 schools, . some of , : . them ; yery >- large. Of these schools, 60 were governv ed by committees of five; .73 by committees of sevbn; and 18 by committees of nine. This gives a (total of- 973 cotmf mittee members, who were the oonstitun ents of the one-third of the Wellington fc- Education Board elected thalb year. Now, tho;'Wellington education district, not e a very clearly defined place, certainly, r contains about nine electoiUites, each of y which averaged at the last election well y. over 6000 voters. That is to bay, 973 « persons had the franchise for Education Board elections, while over 50,000 per-, it sons had 'the franchise for electing meanK hers of Parliament,

Will anyone say. tlmt the powers and duties of Boards of are , so small and insignificant that it isn't worth while providing good machinery for their election? In the year of which I am writing (1907) the Wellington, Board handled ,£IIO,OBB Ids 7dj of the people’s money. -How they handled it I am-happily unable to tUy.' -But I do say this, and I hope you. Sir, will 1 assist me in making my -words emphatic, thait when suoh sums of public money are at tho disposal of a public body, the members constituting that body ought to come face to face with the people at intervals not grctiter than, two years, as Borough and Oity Councillors have to do.—l am ctoi, JAMBS AXTKEN. 3rd January, 1910. ■ ' 1 . : ■ ■ ‘ i I ,