FREE SECONDARY EDUCATION

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7892, 23 December 1903, Page 3

FREE SECONDARY EDUCATION

DISCUSSION BY THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS. A special meeting of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College was held this afternoon to consider the proposals of the Government in regard to free secondary education. Mr C. Lewis, M.H.R., was voted; to the chair, and there, were also present Bishop Julius, Bishop Grimes, Dean Harper, the Rev Dr Erwin, and Messrs J. G. L. Scott, H. J. JViiwkk, T. S. Foster, J. C. Adams, G. W. Russell, G. J: Smith, T. Hughes-, T. W. Adams, J. Izaffd andi C 3. A. T. Opie. The- (registrar aread the report of the College Committee, held over from the previews meeting. Mr Ople had. mov«d as an amendmient that the Board should come in under Section 5 of the Act. " Mr Russell called attention to Clause 17 j of the regulations under the> Act, which forced the Board to eet aside- absolutely a certain proportion of its .scholarships i «r j those who held Education Board, National, or Queen's, scholarships, or any other scholarship' approved for the purpose for the Minister. He would like to know whe- j ther the high schools were to take these] scholarship children without any payment. It seemed!, under the regulations, that these extra scholarships must be included in the total number given by th e Board of Governors. ' The chairman said that the point concerned tli© Board little, but the children ■ a great d«al. The Board had to expend somp £520 in free places, and. if it had to pay fox these other scholarships, then the total number of free places would be considerably redluced. Bishop Julius said tfiat it seemed to him that the clause provided for the inclusion of the Education Board, National and Queen's Scholarship children among the total number of free scholars. The chairman said that there were four National Scholarships in North Canterbury, and if the choldren came to the : High schools the Government would pay nothing for their education. Instead of there being fifty-two free places in- addition to the National scholarships, there wo\ild be fiftytwo including the National scholarships. Mr Russell said that the scholarships in existence must be taken into consideration, as these must- not ba interfered with under the regulations. In answer to a question, the chairman said that the £520 to be given .in free places was one-fifth of the net income from endowments, after making the reductions provided for under the Act. It would be better to ask the Minister what number of scholarships he required.