E.—i

14

to act as a connecting-link between them. Even within the separate spheres just mentioned there is considerable loss of efficiency through divergence of aim and method as well as through overlapping of powers and responsibilities. On the other hand, many matters are left to local initiative which cannot adequately be dealt with except in a comprehensive national manner. Thus there is not only overlapping and waste of effort, but there are many gaps which need to be tilled. The whole process of administering the educational system under present conditions is most tedious amd defective, and leads at times to a considerable amount of negotiation, and dissatisfaction even when all concerned are endeavouring to make the best of the conditions permitted under the system. This difficulty is being faced in other parts of the world, and noticeably in England, France, and the United States. At the General Session, of the National Education Association held in the United States in July of this year very grave concern was expressed at the result of depending on an aggregation of State and local school systems varying widely in their methods of administration and subject to no effective central control. The system of depending on local revenues and almost entirely upon local initiative was roundly condemned, and it was strongly urged that the time had come for more organized, national control, of the various local systems. The report of a special commission, to the association stated that there was no reason to fear the domination of a hide-bound bureaucracy. Oh the contrary, the belief was expressed " that every worthy feature of local, school control may be perpetuated, and local initiative healthily stimulated, and local interest in and responsibility for education greatly augmented, by the kind, of national co-operation proposed." That the above represents the experience of New Zealand may be recognized when it is pointed out that almost every recent advance in educational administration has necessarily been made by instituting co-ordination and system not only at the initiative, but through the more direct control of the Department. In this connection it is necessary only to refer to such matters as the institution of the Dominion scale of staffs and salaries, teachers' court of appeal, superannuation, the grading of teachers, departmental control of inspection, school medical inspection and physical instruction, and the remarkable extension of secondary education. through the free-place and. bursary systems. With respect to many of the above, the reforms represented had to be instituted in the face of opposition from many of the bodies which were, perhaps naturally, concerned more with, a local or a sectional interest than with national progress. In the near future the principle of co-ordination will need to be applied further to such matters as the training of teachers for all grades of schools, the effective distribution of the teaching-power of the Dominion, unification of effort in secondary education, and comprehensive, effective, and economical method in dealing with school accommodation. In these matters it is impossible for the separate agencies at present concerned to deal with the whole situation, and from a national point of view we cannot afford to let any one part of the Dominion, or any one phase of education, lag behind another. The much - discussed question of providing adequately for school accommodation and equipment illustrates the situation above referred to. Nearly all the buildings concerning which so much criticism is now being made were planned and erected according to the varying views on school architecture obtaining in thirteen separate districts, without any reference to any really competent authority, and without any possibility of supervision or control by the Department. Owing to serious radical defects in construction and situation in the case of many schools it would be less costly to rebuild on new sites than to attempt to remodel the existing buildings. The function of the' Department was simply to apportion the building grant among the various Boards. In no other country have- the local authorities such extensive spending-power, unless thay are at the same time responsible for raising the moneys they expend. Now, when the situation has become acute, the Department is called upon to remedy all the defects thus created, but it is still asked merely to grant more money to the same local agencies without any security that conditions will be improved in the future. It seems imperative, if the matter of school accommodation is going to be dealt with in any comprehensive and' effective manner and financial administration is to be . placed on a business-like footing, that some definite policy regarding buildings will