Catholic Colleges and Scholarships

New Zealand Tablet, 26 September 1912, Page 51

Catholic Colleges and Scholarships

ships may be held at a secondary school or its equivalent approved by the board; junior national scholar-* ships may be held at a secondary school or its equivalent approved by the board and the Minister. Commenting on this reply Mr. G. W. Russell said that in some cases permission had been given for scholarships to be held at sectarian schools and in others refused. The Department had ‘winked at’ the holding of scholarships at the Church of England schools in Christchurch and in Wanganui. Quite recently , the Auckland Education Board had refused to allow a boy named O’Connor to hold a scholarship at the Sacred Heart College,Wanganui. In his opinion the right of discrimination should not rest-with education boards, _ but it should be decided by the Minister for Education whether a school was qualified to receive scholarshipholders. If this was done the large denominations would be encouraged to establish secondary schools and the State would be able to effect a considerable economy. ' Mr. J. H. Bradney (Auckland West) endorsed the ‘ views expressed by Mr. Russell. Mr. T. H. Davey (Christchurch East) remarked upon the anomaly that the discrimination made against certain schools had riot been applied to the Wanganui Collegiate School and Christ’s College in Christchurch. , It seemed that the Auckland Education Board had refused to act in the manner required by the law. The Hon. J. Allen (Minister for Education) replied that the law was perfectly clear, as he had , stated it in his reply. It was for the Education Board to decide whether any school proposed for its approval was of an equivalent educational standard to that of the public secondary schools. v v ; v V Mr. Russell: The board may still refuse to grant the request. - . The Minister: It does so on the ground that the education is not equivalent. Regarding the O’Connor ' case Mr, Allen said that the Auckland Board had not refused the application. It had written to the Department asking for any information that would, help it to arrive at a decision regarding the school in question. The information in the possession of the Department had been sent to the board and that was the present position. He added that he could see no reason to alter the law. It would be impossible to allow scholarships to be held at any school upon which there was no check and there could be no better check than an Education Board. Mr'. Russell remarked that the question whether a school was of a satisfactory standard should be decided by the Minister and not by Education Boards which have no control or right of inspection over secondary education. Mr. Allen agreed that there was some ground for this contention, but he did not propose to alter the law at present.

In the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon of last week, Mr. G. W. Russell (Avon) asked the Minister for Education whether, seeing that the law is indefinite on the question of holders of State scholarships being allowed to hold them at secondary schools not recognised by the Education Act, the Government will bring down this session- an amendment of the existing law to enable such scholarships to be ,held at the discretion of parents or guardians at schools approved and inspected by State officers. He added (says the Dominion ) that for years past State scholarships had been held without objection at Christ’s College, Christchurch, and, the Collegiate School, Wanganui, but the Education Board at Auckland had ■ recently refused a similar request relating to a scholarship proposed to be held at the Sacred Heart College in that city. The Hon. J. Allen (Minister for Education) replied: The law does not appear to require amendment in order to secure definiteness. Education Board scholar-