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Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 565, 1 December 1915, Page 6

Most reasonable people will agree that the Board of Governors of Canterbury College has decided rightly l in abolishing the preparatory department of the Boys' High School. There are good reasons for this action, apart from the fact that to carry on this primary school Avork would mean a contravention of the Education Act. To continue the preiparatory school would mfean, practically, that a,private school was being j conducted with the aid of a Government subsidy, and that is far from the intention of the legislation which established free primary education for all. Another point against it is that it is not productive of any results that would justify its continuance; the average number of its pupils is small, and the standard of education provided is almost precisely the same as that of the State primary schools. Our educational facilities are capable of improvement, but, even as they exist now, their opportunities are wide and generous. Parents might keep in mind, as the Board of Governors evidently does, that the free primary schools exist to give elementary, education to children, and that the High Schools are,institutions for the higher education of those children whose parents can afford lo pay the fees, or for children whose ability has won them the right to secondary education. There is no need > for any High School to combine the two branches while there exist efficient State primary schools which maintain a good standard of education, and which have been so greatly improved during the past few years.