PARLIAMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18622, 18 July 1930, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON. July 17. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 to-day. The Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle gave notice of intention to introduce the Invercargill City Fire and Accident Insurance Fund Empowering Bill. Education Report. Initiating the debate on the Education Committee’s report, the Hon. H. Atmore said every recommendation had been unanimously reached. He paid tribute to the splendid work of members of the Committee, who had rightly realised that education was a subject above party differences. The first recommendation in the report dealt with terminating the primary school period at eleven years of age This had been reached after a study of conditions in Britain, where such a course was being very largely adopted. The theory of the scheme was that every child about that age had reached a stage when it was time to discover aptitudes, after which the remainder of its education should be devoted developing those aptitudes. It would not be necessary for legislation t,o be passed to permit the adoption of the greater part of the recommendations of the report. After outlining other proposals, Mr Atmore went on to stress the necessity of making farming more popular in New Zealand, and said it must be made attractive through the education system. It should take a prominent place in the curriculum of every school. It was an absurdity that in the present marking system much more importance was attached to Latin than to agricultural science which was entitled to a much more important place. A few years ago a technical school was looked upon as a “poor relation” of the High School, but to-day they were rivals. Thus there was need for unified control. If the two systems were kept in watertight compartments, there would be growing antagonism. There was no complete education without practical education, and the unification scheme would bring this about. Further, the scheme would cut down administrative expenses, which were very high when compared with those of Australia. He believed that £50.000 to £60,000 could be saved annually through the elimination of overlapping. By this means it would be possible to increase capitation grants to Committees, and the money formerly spent on administration would be spent on educating boys and girls. Other phases, such as medical inspection of pupils, the dental clinics system, and religious instruction in schools, would be the subject of ! further sections of the report to be presented later. Mr R. A. Wright (Wellington) complimented the Minister and Committee on the painstaking manner in which the report had been prepared, and agreed that the problem had been ap- ; proached in a non-party spirit. The | report was a revolutionary one, and j he anticipated that some of the High I School Boards and other administraj tive bodies whose powers were affected : by the report, would take exception to | it. He was in favour of the post-pri- | mary Great credit for the : movement in this direction must be given to Sir James Parr, who had in- ' troduced it. Mr Wright stated that he I thought the proposal to have different typer, of junior high schools was a sound one, as it gave country children a chance. The idea of consolidating country schools was also sound, and he looked forward to voting a sum of money for this purpose Children at small schools where a teacher instructed several standards, were seriously handicapped and this was one of the reasons why people were coming to towns. Forms of transport such as motor-buses could be used to convey children to schools. Mr Wright expressed opposition to raising the compulsory school age. The Rev. C. Carr (Timaru) stated that hitherto education in New

Zealand had amounted to a forj tuitous conflict of discordant feaj tures. Mr Wright had described the j recommendations as revolutionary, and Mr Carr declared th?.t revolutionary ' changes were needed. In the past there had been no opportunity to develop any particular aptitude. Pupils had been instructed on the “mass production” principle, and had been expected “to swallow the curriculum whole.” With regard to junior high schools. Mr Carr said it had been contended that these would create two breaks.instead of one between primary and secondary instruction, but he was of opinion that instead of creating a break, the junior high school system would bridge the gulf. He believed unification of control would meet with general approval. The work of technical and high schools couuld be unified and co-related. Technical instruction was essential to any education, and cultural instruction was just as important in any course. Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) said he ! regarded the report as a whole as a valuable one, but he thought members should be given more information as to

the cost involved in the proposed change. There should be a limit both to the cost and to the extent of education. He was of opinion that unnecessary work in schools had been the cause of many children wasting some of the best years of their life. He agreed that after the age of eleven years* education should proceed according to a child's aptitude, but he did not like the idea of compulsorily keening children at school after that age. Parents should have some say in the question of continuance of education. The hardship provision required to be liberally provided for and administered.. Mr Lysnar agreed that unification of control was essential, and added that centralisation of school-designing would produce a great saving. Mr H. M. Rushworth (Bay of Islands) stressed the importance of agricultural education, which would teach people the importance of primary industries, as secondary industries would never have anything more than domestic markets and were only raising the cost of primary production. He was glad to see that education was being given an agricultural instead of a literary bias, and said that he would go further and educate children to the opinion that farming was the most desirable of occupations. He would like education to have the ideal of service to humanity, rather than of extracting the maximum from the people with a minimum of effort. Mr K. S. Williams (Bay of Plenty) hoped that country children would be given facilities as nearly as possible equal to those of town children. It was lack of facilities in the country at present that was driving people to the towns to educate their children. Mr "VV. A. Bodkin (Central Otago) chairman of the Education Committee, said the evidence in favour of increasing the compulsory school age to fifteen had been overwhelming, and had fully justified the Committee’s recommendation in this respect. There was every indication that post-primary education would introduce a type of school distinctly advantageous to the community. The Committee had thoroughly explored every possibility and he was satisfied that the change would be appreciated by the people of New Zealand. The House adjourned at 5.30.

Evening Session. The House resumed at 7.30. Mr Bodkin, continuing, said the only possible objection that the Committee could anticipate in connection with the intermediate type of education was expense, and after investigating the position fully, it had satisfied itself that the proposed system would not involve any more expenditure than that devoted to present primary. and secondary schools, and would possibly cost less. With regard to consolidation of country schools, the Committee had considered that any extra expenditure would be more than justified. Mr F. Langstone (Waimarino) advocated total elimination of Education Boards. He believed a greater amount of efficiency could be attained if all primary, secondary, and other schools in a district formed an association to undertake administration of that district. As the services of such an association could be voluntary, there would be an added saving of expenditure. He thought the report might have done more for children in the backblocks, who were entitled to the best education this country could provide. There were some of these schools which, because of bad roads and other reasons, it would be impossible to consolidate. Mr T. W. McDonald (Wairarapa) commended the recommendations of the report. He considered it would be a great advance to have women inspectors of schools, because they were more able than men to understand the difficulties of children, and to ascertain the best means of instructing them. Mr McDonald paid a warm tribute to the work of Sir James Parr in setting up intermediate schools, and the Committee hoped that this principle would be largely extended. Mr J. H. Young (Waikato) said the recommendations were designed to open the door of opportunity to every child. He stressed the importance of the two years after eleven years of age in exploring the natural aptitude of pupils. Raising the school age would increase school attendances, and as the new system would probably bring about smaller classes, more teachers would be required, thereby increasing the expense, but this would be balanced by the reduction of administration costs.

Mr R. W. McKeen (Wellington) applauded the provisions of the report in the main, but said the Minister had not . indicated when it was intended to put the recommendations into operation. Mr McKeen did not think the whole task could be achieved in one year, but it could be done in five. New schools would have to be built, but no estimate had been made of the number required. He favoured raising the school age to i fifteen, as a means of reducing unem- j ployment. Mr J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn) said there should be no bias in primary education. All faculties should be trained, so that everyone could enjoy life to the full. At the same time there was perhaps a good deal of ground for the attitude of the Committee because primary industries had been neglected. Representatives of the teaching profession and the administrative side should be sent abroad, so that standards in other countries could be gauged. Mr G. C. Black (Motueka) said vocational guidance and open-air schools would be discussed in the second section of the report. The Committee had had its eyes all the time on country schools. Mr H. Holland (Christchurch North) cited examples of extravagance under the present system. Mr C. H. Chapman (Wellington) said he hoped there would be no attempt at economy at the expense of the teachers or the children, or by enlarging classes. Mr W. E. Barnard (Napier) congratulated the Committee on its report. Mr P. Fraser (Wellington) .said the Committee believed that under the new system there would be a saving in expenditure, but even if there were added cost, it would be justified by added efficiency. The Minister thanked members for the manner in which they had received the report. Divorce Bill. The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Amendment Bill (Mr G. H. Mason) was read a second time, pro forma, and reefrred to the Statutes Revision Committee. The House rose at 10.30 p.m. till 10.30 a.m. to-morrow.