The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1909. DYNAMITE FOR EDUCATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13941, 29 June 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1909. DYNAMITE FOR EDUCATION.

Tho Minister of Education made an extraordinary speech at Addington on Saturday afternoon, at the laying of the foundation stone of a, new school building thpre. in its' way it was almost as bud as Mr Hogg's ebullition of independence which led to his resignation from the Ministry. The main difference between the two speeches, frpn the political point of view, is that Air Hogg must have known that ha was running counter to the policy of the Cabinet, while Mr Fowlds" probably knows that his colleagues are prepared to agree with him, if they have not even suggested that he should speak as he did. The portion of }n"s rennrks, to which we would apply the epithet extraordinary, was one in which lc quoted the education systems of otter countries in regard to their finance and pointed out tlut "in other countries they found that local control wai accompanied by local responsibilities, »nd local contributions towards the cost of education, and he thought that in the days to come New Zealand would 'probably have to move in the same diiection, by throwing more directly into the hands of the people the respoisibilities and control of education within their own immediate neighbourhoods." He went on to speak of the proportion of the cost r>f education provided by local rating in different countries; quoting England, Scotland, AVales, and Switzerland, where the proportion is about half; the United States; where the average proportion of local raft?s is 81 per cent.; and Ireland where about 8 per cent, is found by local rates. In New Zealand nearly the whole cost is provided by the State, The only reason for a. change in the financial system founded upon loeil experience, was* that "occasionally? friction arises between the local authorities ■ and the Department and Minster in charge of it, and he naively confessed that this

friction was due to the Minister ->eiMg allowed by the Finance Ministe on '. v a limited sum for expenditure, -"id I"? had to see that it was spent ii> ing first the most pressing iie" ?ss, * ies v Naturally there must arise what tho Minister" calls ". friction "'when pressing, h\it still pressi'Si requirements are not provided fr-"- B"t tins financial difficulty is no sufficient reason for upsetting the v»ole machinery of our education syste i >» as the adoption of Mr Fowlds' idea certainly would'. Education s. a national and not a local nec.ess tv 3 and to throw upon localities tho responsibility, of providing any large din re of the cost of education must '»<? an the creation .jpf groat difference' ><i the results, in the more and the loss wealthy localities. Under the pi-sent system the cost of the whole . * very fairly distributed over the. co- n try, il "d the results are also fairly .'final... Adopt Mr Fowlds' idea, and neither of these equables could he idealised. It is hard to see wliv the -Department or the Minister should il> - worried about the finance. Perlia'r*' they are -throwing this idea into -"tv air to district attention from tho yllahus and the costly 'technical sclif.ils which liavo been a source of ]-pji worry, because they are tho Dipjftment's own creation, and have. Ven criticised all over the Dominion. ■ ■ ■ . IS