Free School Books.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXVI, Issue 4019, 24 February 1909, Page 2

Free School Books.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. In the course of the statement made by the Minister for Education to a Post reporter in reply to complaints regarding delay in the issue of free school books, the Hon. Geo. Fowlds said the only question raised by some of the boards had been as to the sufficiency of the grant. The Department had examined into the question very fully. The boards, it appeared, seemed to forget that they could get these books practically at wholesale prices, plus a commission to the bookseller on the charges for landing them, if imported by the boards. They also seemed to have forgotten that a certain proportion (from a quarter to a third) of the preparatory classes were not able to use hooks at all. They were unable to read when they entered school, and it was only after they had got past the “reading sheet” stage that they were able to use books. Therefore, when the Department was paying the board on the whole roll of the preparatory classes it was really paying for a great many children who did not require books at all. This, therefore, left a very considerable sum available for supplementary readers. “As to the cost,” said the Minister, “the Department has been supplying books to the native schools for the past 28 years. They are scattered far and wide, and the whole of them together are scarcely equal to the number of schools in an ordinary board district. A great saving can he effected on postage, and probably, when the boards gain some experience we shall not hear so much about the insufficiency of the amount.”