Quarter-Money.—The Red Banner of Revolt Raised.

Observer, Volume X, Issue 604, 31 January 1891, Page 3

Quarter-Money.— The Red Banner of Revolt Raised.

Throughout the educational district of Auckland there is in vogue a system of collecting an education tax from the parents of all pupils, be they rich or poor. This tax is known as ' quarter-money ;' it ranges from one shilling to four shillings per annum, and it is collected quarterly by the different school teachers. For the imposition of this tax there is absolutely no warrant within the four corners of the Education Act, and the existence of this abuse is a blot upon our system of so-called ' free education. 1 This tax is farmed out, in the same way as the Sultan of Turkey faims out his taxes to big Bashaws, who make a profit by grinding the faces of the poor tax-payers. I have heard so many complaints of this tax, and the iniquitous and insulting mode of collecting it, that I have resolved to sound the tocsin of war and raise the red banner of revolt against the vile abuse.

Ostensibly the ' quarter-money ' is to pay for the use of school' material, including pens, inks, slates, copybooks, etc. For the supply of these odds and ends a working man in the city who has three children at school is called upon to pay twelve shillings ycr annum '„ and yet he is expected to glory in our Bystem of free education. I make bold to assert that he could for half • a-crown buy all the school stationery required for his three children in the course of a year, so that he is systematically robbed of nine shillings and sixpence per annum, by authority of the City Schools Committee, and with the sanction of the Board of Education, which is supposed to administer with justice and economy our free and godless system of education. Godless the system assuredly is, when such an iniquitous practice is winked at, but free it certainly is not. It is a bit of impudent assumption for the School Committee to 'authorise' such an illegal and extortionate charge. No public body can authorise robbery, and the public ought; to know that it is entirely in their own option whether they pay the quarter-money or not.

It will be contended that the tax of a shilling a quarter per pupil is really in the interest of the parents, who are saved a lot of trouble, and have the stationery provided much cheaper than they could buy it elsewhere. There is no truth in this contention. A bookseller assures me that he is prepared to provide for tenpence what the schoolmaster charges four shillings for, and he would be glad to supply all the city schools on those terms. Under the existing system the headmasters buy at wholesale prices from the stationers, and sell at a profit of three or four hundred per cent. Taking the whole of the city schools, there are profits of at least £500 a year pocketed by the head-masters out of this quarter-money. The bulk of each head-master's time is consumed in collecting this money, and as so much of it goes into his own pocket, he spares no effort to scrape it together — dunning the parents, hectoring the children, sometimes even flogging the latter and expelling them from school because they make default with their quarterly payments.

All this is shockingly demoralising and detrimental to the cause of educatibn. Schoolmasters who are mere hucksterers and peddlers of pens and ink are looked upon with contempt by pupils. And the practice is as unnecessary as it is impolitic, illegal, and oppressive. In some education districts, the Boards act up to the spirit of the Act and provide school requisites free. Why should not the Auckland Board make an allowance for this purpose to each School Committee, based on the number of pupils on the roll ? That would be the proper method, and it would at once remove the abuses of the existing system.

But, supposing the collection of quarter money to be correct and lawful, there is no reason why Auckland parents should pay double the amount paid in other cities of the colony. A sum of two shillings a year is found ample in the South; it is found more than ample in country districts 'of Auckland, where the stationery costs double the money that it does in town. What, then, is the reason that a sum of four shillings a year is

demanded and obtained in this city, and in this city alone of every place in the colony ? Is it simply a device to increase the salaries of those over-paid and over-fed town teachers ? And has the existence of a Ragged School and Truant Officer anything to do with enforcing payment of this iniquitous tax ? The answers to these questions provide the key to the enigma.

I am told that some city teachers 6xtort quartermoney by threatening the children that, if they cannot or will not pay it, they will be expelled and run in to the Truant School. By this means, and by the calling out before all the school, in thundering tones — ' Have you brought that quarter-money, Jones ?' the pupils are coerced into badgering their parents until the money is brought. The whole thing is illegal, and is only maintained by pressure of this sort, and by the apathy of the Auckland public. Now that the schools are re-assemb-ling, there will be the customary demand for quartermoney. Let no one pay a farthing ; if all refuse, there will be no efficiency in threats of expulsion. Stop paying this illegal tax, it wouid be as right for the School Committee to authorise a tax to cover rent and school furniture. Pay no more quarter- money till each head-master gives an account of how much profit he pocketed laat year by his stationery shop. Don't pay a farthing more, in any ease ; you pay enough and more than enough already, by indirect taxation, for the so-called ' free ' education system. If - you paid nothing for ten year 3to come, and the Board made no grant for the purpose, the city head-masters could and ought to provide Bchool requisites out of their past ill-gotten gainß. ' Eesist the devil, and he will flee from you ;' resist this tax and no power on earth can force you to pay it.