The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1927. ECONOMY IN EDUCATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 10

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1927. ECONOMY IN EDUCATION

THERE are welcome hints from Parliament House about the possibility of the Minister of Education making a valiant attempt this year to trim the overgrown tree of education. It cannot be doubted that the Hon. R. A. Wright is just the man for the task. Armed with a slasher he not only would look the part, but could put the fear of doom into the hearts of spendthrifts and muddlers. Moreover, he has all the valour of the administrator who does not know everything* about the exj>ensive thing administered. Unfortunately for the taxpayer, however, the hints at economy have no body of authoritative fact to them. They take the intangible form of ‘"suggestions” and “understanding, and reveal nothing more than the need of a curtailment of expenditure—a necessity as conspicuous as Rangitoto. The Minister adopts the role of the strong, silent man, and declines to commit himself. His intentions are Cabinet secrets. Let us hope these may prove to be a surprise in the right direction. Thus the Parliamentary soothsayers, seeing things “as through a glass darkly,” predict a cut into departmental expenditure on administration, and the shearing away of what Mr. Wright recently described as “the frills of education.” It is even suggested that the education boards may be eliminated in favour of concentrated departmental administration. Such a suggestion need not be taken too seriously; Ministerial courage is hardly equal as yet to that pitch of heroic economy. *ln any case the country, as a whole, would much prefer the board-devil it knows to the department-devil it knows only too well. It is quite enough extravagance now to spend £40,000 a year on the general administration of the State education system. The Dominion cannot afford the introduction of further expensive experiments. It is said on behalf of the Minister that one of his greatest difficulties to-day is to meet the commitments made by his predecessor. That is a very old excuse. When Sir James Parr had charge of the system his difficulty was to overtake the things that had not been "done or those that had been done badly by his predecessor. And so on backward to the good old days when the cost of education was only fifteen shillings a head of the population, and was the text of much political homily and humbug about the bad administration of national education. To-day the expenditure is fifty-five shillings a head, and the professional politicians, demonstrating the shortcomings of the education system, keep on discussing State nonsense at a cost of £1 a minute. ... , The real trouble about the lack of economy is the politicians knowledge that if they practised economy where it is most needed the public would see the full sham of professional politics. _ As it has been well said, economy on a great scale and in the light direction, would be a blasting operation of an exceedingly dangerous character. So we need not look too wistfully foi real economy. But there is a splendid opportunity for a leader to make his name famous in administration.

FLIGHT TO THE SOUTH POLE

NO further announcement has been made concerning the proposed flight from New Zealand to Australia, but it may be presumed that the committee which has the project in hand is following a policy of quiet progression, and that the Government is “keeping steadily in view” the request for a subsidy to aid the enterprise of private individuals. Meanwhile the Americans make further flights across the Atlantic, bridge the air from San Francisco to Honolulu, and turn their eyes to the Southern Pacific with a vision that focuses even the South Pole. So enterprising have the Americans been that Colonel White, president of the Australian Aero Club, declares that unless Australia bestirs herself, they will capture all the flying records in and around Australian waters, and he makes a vigorous appeal to the public to enable to capture at least one record, namely, the first flight to New Zealand. That honour has long been coveted by New Zealanders; indeed, the flight was first suggested on this side of. the Tasman. The idea, however, did not seem to appeal to this eminently practical Government —or, if it did, it made no practical move in the matter —and there has been a general apathy on the part of the public which will probably endure until the Tasman has been crossed —from the other side.

The intrepid airmen of England and America do not rest upon their hard-earned laurels. Two of the best-known daily cross-channel pilots propose to fly from London to Ottawa within a fortnight, and, resting for eight hours in the Canadian capital, to return to England. Commander Byrd, it is announced, has definitely decided to prepare for his flight to the South Pole and will have his base in New Zealand. This gallant airman flew a distance of 1,500 miles around the North Pole, and he believes the Antarctic project to be possible, with specially equipped planes, despite the encountering of conditions more difficult than those prevailing in the Arctic. Commander Byrd expects to be in New Zealand to make ready for his dash to the Pole early next year. When he arrives, will he meet a New Zealander who has flown to Australia, an Australian who has flown to New Zealand—or merely a few nonentities of the air who have fluttered around the domestic dovecot ?