THE HON. G. FOWLDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13812, 25 January 1909, Page 7

THE HON. G. FOWLDS.

"A CHAT WITH THE MINISTER. By the-7 o'clock express "from the south on Saturday ..niguc, the Hon. U. Fowldsj-Minister.for Education, passed through ou his return to Wellington., and 'to -a representative of this journal; who joined the Ministerial car/at Stiuinolnie, he courteously gave a.few items of interest. . '"STEWART ISLAND.

The/ hon. gehtleman has been spending. 'a holiday at Stewart Island, and, asked his impressions of that place, ho said that the scenery impressed him as being-very fine:' the pretty bush, with its "multitude of ferns, ■= and beautiful flowering trees and shrubs. give Stewart-Island' a beauty which is all its 'envn', and he predicted that the island, when it becomes better known._ and When a-better passenger sryice is established between it and tlie Bluff, will become a very popular holiday resort, especially a for people from the North Island, and from tlie northern portions of the Middle Island, who desire rest and - change, and (he benefit of a bracing climate. With his wife and daughters he crossed over to thf island in the tug-boat "Theresa Ward," and while it was pretty rough troing, they had a smooth and cujnvable r~'urn journey, occupying 21 hours. There ■were a eood manv there at the time of his visit, all the arcmitnodation houses being full, and between daily picnics and excursions in motor .launches to the various little

islands dotted about, the visitors spent ». highly enjoyable time. "When a complete change, and absolute rest, is the desideratum,/Stewart Island is tlie place" to visit,'.' said the Minister. "Questioned as to whether the laud on the' island is of any value, froth the point of view of the pastoralist or the agriculturists, Mr Fowlds said that a good bit of country which is suitable, for sheep, but inaccessibility to ■markets is. a "greit drawback. AMr Thompson, with wL-om he stopped there, -had a Government run of between 10,000 and 12,000 acres, and though farming was not his <>cffirpatirm., he' had been successful with whafc'sheep he had tried there. ' EDUCATION.

'lnterrogated on the "_£2so bar" imposed under' the regulations govern-, ing "the : Junior National Scholarships, +be Minister said Parliament'had deliberately" decided that a parent whose income exceeded £250 a year, could not pet the benefit of one of these scholarships, because it was desired that the children of people of small means should get the benefit of them, and lie did not think that Parliament would entertain favourably 'any proposal to alter the limitation of income. There should: not, he thought, be much difficulty in deciding as to who were and vfib:-Tvero not • entitled to the benefit of, "these scholarships. 'lt was suggested that it would not be . 'ail' easy matter, to „ determine tile income of, say. a farmer, as a part -,„f it —the ,-ost of much of his living—never came to him in cash at all. The Minister replied that it would he; more difficult to ascertain the income of the farmer than of the city man. but against that they had the fact that children living in the towns, "cnerairv speaking, had superior educa- < tional advantages to those living m the country Town children were not so often kept from school through the inclemency of 'the weather, besides which ir was a recognised fact that better results could be obtained where there was a separat teacher for each class, than in country schools, where one or perhaps two teachers had to do all the teaching. Under the regulations the Boards had to allot the scholarships to schools of a certain class, the object being to secure for small schools an opportunity of securing a scholarship without coming into competition witn the larger schools. , i ■■-. 1 With regard to the amended .Relocation Act of last session, he had heard nothing of any ambiguities, with the exception of the provision relating to the increase of teachers' salaries, and it had been decided that this was to be interpreted in the light which -would be most favourable to the teachers. There was nothing else in the Act that was not easy of explanation. Continuing, the Minister said that complaint had been made that nothing had been done in the matter of the additional staffing which had been promised.' Any complaint of this kind could only "arise from a misapprehension as to what was introduced and clearly understood when the Bill was before the House. The Department recognised that large staffing was necessary and the full equipment of all the schools would be worked up to. The reason that the additional staffing was to be brought into force by regulation, was that only such additional staffing would be authorised as could be met l>y the teachers available.™ the Dominion." The Pennrtn'oiit, could not tell how many were available, until it. obtained the_information from.the different 'Education- Boards at the besinnin'g of the vcar. after all the ordinarv va-

cancics had been tilled. As soon as' uie jjepartmeuc receivel the returns oix'jwiiig tue numuer oi teachers avauaole, regulations would be issueU aumonsing tne Hoards to employ all the teachers available. It was uesn-ed that every school should be fully stalled as soon as possible. Ho estimated that about 7od additional teachers were required, to provide that full scale of scathing contemplated by the- Act. IMMIGRATION.

Asked concerning the Government's policy of immigration —whether it was intended to continue to bring moire men and women to the Domnion when the labour market was already overstocked, Mr Fowlds said that the Government intended to continue to give assisted passages to domestic, servants and farm labourers., because the demand for these two classes of labour was not- yet filled. There was any quantity': of demand for them. The trouble had been caused through some of those who had been given assisted passages, as farm labourers,' deciding, when they got here, to stop.'about the towns instead of going.into the country to work. These people or some of them were not, presumably, genuine farm workers, although they had made a declaration, before being assisted' but here, that they were. He had not yet had time to go very carefully into the methods of checking the statements of those who sought assisted but from what he could gather the officers of the Agent-Generals Department were as particular as possible. They required a declaration from the applicant, and two other persons of repute had to give their word that tlie applicant was -what he represented himself to be. Possibly some slipped through by means of false' representations, but he did not know that the Department could be more careful than it was, to assist none but genuine farm workers or domestic servants. _.- Government could not stop assisting those two : classes because the demand .for them, was as keen as ever. Probably some: of those who came out as farm labourers—genuinely so—changed their minds when they got here, and finding some, of their friends doing well in the towns, decided to remain about the towns themselves, in the hope of getting suitable employment. That would swell the ranks of the unemployed about the towns, but the Government could not make these people go into.the country if they did not want to. THE COSTLE YHOME.

In a brief reference to the Costley Home (Mr Fowlds is chairman of the Governing Board) the Minister said that the Home is at present closed down, as it could not be advantageously carried on under the old'system. The* bequest was for the teaching of trades, and it was now proposed to sell the building, and to pay the costs, of young people with physical disabilities, while they were being taught a trade — young people who would come' tinder the Industrial .Schools Act. ELECTION EXPENSES.

Speaking'•of the elections and of the £SO promised by-the Government for the expenses by candidates who had to go to a second ballot, the Minister said that the Government did not propose t opay the full £SO, regardless-of whether it had been spent or not. What they would do would be to pay the actual expenses of second ballot candidates up to £SO. If a candidate only incurred say £35 at the second ballot, the Government would only pay that amount. Candidates were supposed to show tlieir receipts as well as their expenditure during the election, but presentations to candidates made after the election would not be considered as receipts from the election..