THE Thames Star. MONDAY, MAY 31, 1926. SHOULD A HOD-CARRIER MATRICULATE?

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16800, 31 May 1926, Page 4

THE Thames Star.

MONDAY, MAY 31, 1926. SHOULD A HOD-CARRIER MATRICULATE?

“With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives u® to see the right.”—Lincoln.

The Hon. iR. A. Wright began his career as Minister oi Education in Wellington last week with a naive talk on higher education to the Secondary Schools’ Association conference. . It was his first speech as an administrator and, therefore, may not be taken as a true measure of his i capacity for the responsible position. For it really was a poor beginning, even though the conference congratulated him enthusiastically on having been appointed to the Reform Ministry. It stands to the new Minister’s credit, however, that he means to be a strong man, alooffront any slackness on the “Yes-No’h policy of politicians. He will lay his cards on the table, and play an open game. “If I say ‘yes’ I mean ‘yes’,” declared Mr Wright, “and if I say ‘no’ I mean ‘No’.” It is an admirable intention, but when he becomes older and harder in statecraft the Minister probably will ape the canny Scot and say “Imphm.” There may be another interpretation of his firm policy, for his reference to higher education hints at the possibility of a curtailment of expenditure on it. The Minister has exoressed his belief that he can solve a great problem which he has understood for a long time. 'This is the problem of spending -money lavishly on providing higher education -for children who will be unable to secure white-collar occupation. It is quite clear that Mr Wright does not consider it necessary for a sturdy youth who is destined by economic and other circumstances -to become a hod-carrier, to matriculate. Rather wistfully he harks back to the good old days, when only the children of well-to-do parents could attend secondary schools. Then, of course, everything was simple and straightforward: the number of pupils at secondary schools was limited, there were enough billets available for matriculated -scholars, and there was no “great problem” for the Minister of Education. Times have changed, however, and now the secondary schools -are crowded with children who have earned the boon of free higher education. Hence the raw Minister’s fear that the professions will become congested. Is there any real reason for Ministerial trembling? asks the -Sun. Congestion will do no vital harm to the professional class, whose service and rewards will be none the worse for keener competition. It may even lead to cheaper law and cheaper medical and surgical treatment. In any case, overcrowding in the professions ultimately rights itself and separates the sheep from the goats. All the time professional efficiency improves under attack by ardent and competent youth. Those who are crowded out become all the better citizens for having the advantage of highed education, though they -may be compelled to earn their living with a pick and shovel. Indeed, the Minister of Education has been given to understand that educated people are to be found at manual work in Germany. If Mr Wright were to travel far enough he would also find educated men in foreign politics. In contending that the parental idea-- of giving all children a first-class education will create great difficulties,

the Minister not only talks nonsense, but demonstrates at the very outset of his career that he is “the Wrong Mr Wright.”