STATE SCHOLARSHIPS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8191, 5 August 1912, Page 1

STATE SCHOLARSHIPS

THE CATHOLIC POSITION SOLICITOR-GENERAL GIVES A DECISION. (FECIAL TO THE "TIMES." AUCKLAND, August 3. The effort whicli has been made during recent years towards securing the right of Catholic schools and Catholic scuolars to participate in the benefits oi the system of citato scholarships has now been advanced another stage. Up till July, 1911, the pupils of Catholic schools were debarred from even competing for Education Board scholarships or junior national scholarships, the two classes of State scholarships which open the door to secondary schools for the most promising and deserving of the primary school pupils by the Education Amendment Act, 1910, which came into force on the date mentioned. Both classes of State scholarships were thrown open for competition by pupils of all State-inspected schools, public or private, in the Dominion, but no provision was inserted in the Act making such scholarships tenable at Catholic secondary schools. The matter is one which has long vexed the minds of those deeply interested in the question, and it was felt that the position was governed by a provision of the Education Act of 1908, which provides for the ’‘ holder of a scholarship, only so long as he prosecutes his studies to the satisfaction of the board at a secondary school or its equivalent approved by the board.” The departmental view of the term “ equivalent ’ ’ had hitherto been that it was intended to refer to schools that were “ constitutionally” and not “educationally” equivalent. This interpretation has now been upset by the decision of the Solicitor-General. On the occasion of the recent archiepiscopal jubilee celebrations in Wellington the Catholic bishops took the opportunity of asking the then head of the Government (the Hon. T. . Mackenzie) as to the exact position in which secondary schools stood in respect to State scholarships. The promise was then made that the SolicitorGeneral would be asked for his opinion. ■This opinion has since been announced by the Hon. James Allen. Minister for •Education, and states that boards have ample power to “ approve ” Catholic . secondary schools,, at which scholarships may be taken out. Representatives of the .Catholic body are' now authoritatively. - advised to make formal application for that purpose.