The Daily News MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1930. THE SCHOLARSHIPS FUND.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1930, Page 8

The Daily News MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1930. THE SCHOLARSHIPS FUND.

To their already fine record of sendee to education in Taranaki Messrs. J. A. Valentine and P. J. H. White have added a notable contribution in the preparation of a pamphlet on tho history of . the Opaku Reserve and the Taranaki Scholarships Fund. The purpose of this little publication is, of course, to instruct Ministers and members of Parliament, who are being urged by representatives of Victoria University College and the New Zealand University to despoil this province of its cherished heritage. The authors undoubtedly have done their work well, for they have not made a single unnecessary statement, but have marshalled their facts concisely and logically and within such modest compass that the busiest man will easily make time to read them and cannot fail to grasp their significance. The history of the setting aside of university endowments is given briefly, the point being stressed that the Legislature was quite clear in its intention to apply the revenue from endowments to ’‘the purpose of higher education in the provinces in which they were situated. The evolution of the scheme of higher education, in the North Island is described and then the Taranaki Scholarships Act of 1905, which definitely set apart the Opaku Reserve as an endowment for “providing scholarships for the higher education of deserving scholars in Taranaki Pro-.

vinee.” The debates on the measure in the House of .’Representatives and the Legislative Council have provided material for a comvineing demonstration of the desire of both chambers to reward the province for its services to the rest of the colony during the Maori Wars and to insure for all time the perpetuation of the provision for Taranaki’s deserving scholars. The second portion of the pamphlet, dealing with the history of the scholarships fund, is equally succinct and impressive in its resume of the treatment Taranaki has received at the hands of the university 'authorities. The unbiased reader will surely be forced to the conclusion that for some years past Taranaki Jias not been receiving justice, but rather the fund has been manipulated with the object of weakening the province’s hold upon its sacred property. The pamphlet is timely because Parliament’s consideration of the. report of the Education Committee may have an important bearing on the subject of the Taranaki endowment. One of the committee’s proposals is the abolition of the existing scholarship system and the allocation of the funds now used for scholarships to a scheme of maintenance bursaries for “deserving” pupils continuing their education beyond the primary stage. It isproposed that the grant of bursaries should not be based on competitive external examinations, but on consideration of individual cases on their “intrinsic merits,” of which, it seems, necessitous circumstances would be an important constituent. The committee’s' idea is that the scholarship funds should thus be restored “to the original purpose of assisting deserving country children and the children of parents in moderate and straitened circumstances to obtain the benefits of higher education. ’ ’ Since it is proposed that the disbursement of the funds should be entrusted to the local education authorities, not to the Education Department, it is quite reasonable to assume that the suggested system could be employed to very good purpose in this province. So far as secondary education is concerned the funds from the Opaku Reserve would not be affected, but the experience of recent years indicates that local administration of that trust in the interests of university scholars would be a very great improvement upon existing conditions. So long as Taranaki students have to go from home in order to pursue courses of higher learning they will obviously come within the category of ” deserving country children,” and even when the province has its own university college students whose homes are outside the centre will be equally well equiped. It is, of course, to the future that the Taranaki people of to-day are looking when th’ey put forth jealous efforts to safeguard their education endowment. Densely populated as it already is in comparison with other parts of the Dominion, this province still is capable of great expansion, the natural outcome of which must be the eventual foundation of its own university 1 college. It is therefore essential to-day to assert Taranaki’s just and legal claim.to be left undisturbed in the possession of its: heritage.