CAPITATION GRANT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 58

CAPITATION GRANT.

FURTHER MINISTERIAL ARGU- ' MENT. HO & MR FOWLDS REMAINS FIRM. WELLINGTON, April 29. Asked by a Post reporter if he had anything to say regarding the criticism at the meeting- of the North Canterbury Education Board relative to the recent interview with him on the question of capitation grants to school committees, the Hon. G. Fowlds replied as follows : The only thing I have to■say is that the statements made and the figures quoted at the meeting of the board prove the truth'of'my contention. In the interview referred' to I did not say that ALL education boards had reduced the amount of their grants to school committees in consequence of the special capitation grant of 9d per head. What I did say was that some boards had either done that or bad increased the amount of work that they required committees to do, and the figures quoted at the meeting- of the board referred to proved that statement' to demonstration. It was there said that the North Canterbury Board had paid over to the committees no less than 8s out of a total 12s of capitation that the -board received, and - that some of the other boards gave only 4sQ|d. The amount of work that committees in each case are expected to do with -- the money is not -shown, and therefore •the comparison is'not'quite com* plete:: Taking the figures"'as they stand, however, I contend that"it is not fair that the committees in some education districts should have to struggle through with 4s o|d of cavitation, while committees in other parts of the Dominion are receiving twice that amount, and that.no satisfactory solution of the difficulty from the committees' point of view could be arrived at while the department" merely voted to school committees a capitation of 9d for their assistance. Anybody can see that this amount is totally and if Bd is to be voted specially, why should not the whole amount required by committees be voted in one sum ? Either the whole amount required" for the committees ought to be voted""direct,. or the whole amount ought to bjg voted* to. the boards, with an indication from Parlia? ment as "to the manner-of' its-allocation.. The discussion at the meeting of the" North Canterbury Education Board shows the tendency of each board to look at what are national questions n-urely from the point of view of local experience, while the Minister of Education has to look at them from the national standpoint. A system that may be ' working satisfactorily in one district is not necessarily working satisfactorily in the Dominion as a whole.-