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PROFESSOR MACKINNON and SIR RICHARD WINSTEDT questioned the desirability of women coming to England for training. MR. MAYHEW explained that the object was to regularize procedure with a view to giving necessary help where (but only where) local facilities for training were not provided.
SIR DONALD CAMERON remarked that if the Memorandum was to be circulated in the Dependencies he would like to suggest an amendment to paragraph 3 of Mr. Mayhew's Memorandum. He would propose that paragraph 3 (i) should read "that the Secretary of State will not be prepared to intervene, if his intervention is sought, in the case of applications "'; and that the following words should be added at the end of 3 (ii)
or that for exceptional circumstances the application is worthy of support In a great many places there might be no facilities for training the teachers in their own country. Even when there were, a parent with money had a perfect right to send his child wherever he desired. Offence might be caused if such a parent were given the impression that the Government was trying to oppose his wishes in this direction.
MR. MAYHEW said that the object of the Memorandum was only to make it clear that if students came to England without a recommendation from their local Government the Colonial Office could not undertake responsibility for them.
THE CHAIRMAN said that the attention of the Department concerned would be drawn to the proposed amendments.
The Committee agreed to adopt Mr. Mayhew's Memorandum.
They also accepted the suggestion that Dr. Burstall and Mr. Mayhew should Professor constitute themselves into an informal committee to collect information. Mackinnon agreed to collaborate so far as the inquiry related to the London area.
7. Statistical Tables contained in the Education Reports of Colonial Governments. A Memorandum by Mr. Mayhew regarding suggestions for the improvement of these tables had been circulated (A.C.E.C. 13/37).
THE CHAIRMAN said that the necessity for some revision was clear. He suggested the appointment of a sub-committee with the following personnel to examine the matter in detail:-
Sir Richard Winstedt (Chairman).
Professor Clarke,
Mr. Fox.
Dr. McLean.
Mr. Mayhew.
SIR DONALD CAMERON said the practice of endeavouring to gauge the activities of a Colonial Government in different fields, including the educational field, by calculating percentages of expenditure, and even of revenue, originated at Geneva with the Permanent Mandates Commission. He did not know how far this practice had taken root in the Advisory Committee but he felt obliged to reiterate that unless the analysis of expenditure was very carefully made, and unless the picture could be presented as a whole, very erroneous impressions might be given.
MR. MAYHEW suggested that this need not preclude an attempt to improve the accuracy of the figures presented in Colonial Education Reports.
SIR DONALD CAMERON felt that the question must be approached from a very much broader point of view than that of education statistics alone.
MR. MAYHEW pointed out that an attempt had been made to keep distinct the two questions involved: on the one hand the accuracy of statistics; on the other, the adequacy of the expenditure on education of the several Colonial Governments. The former question was dealt with in the memorandum now before the Committee, A.C.E.C. 13/37; the latter question was dealt with in A.C.E.C. 15/37 which formed the next item on the Agenda. He did not think that there need be any difficulty in distinguishing the two questions.
SIR DONALD CAMERON said that it was difficult to keep the two questions distinct. He called attention to statistics and to inferences drawn therefrom in the appendices to A.C.E.C. 15/37 that he thought were misleading. MR. MAYHEW explained that the intention of the Memorandum was to show that the statistics were unreliable and inadequate and to suggest questions which needed for their answers correct statistics.
SIR DONALD CAMERON then emphasized the difficulties experienced by Governors in meeting the claims of all the social services with reference to the many other needs.
THE CHAIRMAN said the Committee were dissatisfied both with the standard of accuracy and with the present form of the statistics provided. The proposal was that an endeavour should be made to devise some method of effecting improvements.
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DR. VAUGHAN hoped that the Committee would always look upon statistics with suspicion, but agreed with Mr. Mayhew that this need not preclude the adoption of a better and more uniform method of presentation.
After further discussion, it was agreed that Mr. Mayhew's memorandum should be adopted and that a sub-committee composed of the members proposed by the Chairman should be set up to investigate the statistics now presented in Reports with a view to suggesting a better and more complete method of presentation.
MR. MAYHEW referred to the help given in the past by the Institute of Education and expressed the hope that it would be continued in the future. PROFESSOR CLARKE agreed; but asked that he might be allowed to send a deputy to the sub-committee if necessary. He could not of course accept personal responsibility for everything that the Institute statisticians might put forward,
8. Expenditure on Education in the Dependencies. A Memorandum on this subject (A.C.E.C. 15/37) had already been circulated.
THE CHAIRMAN said this Memorandum had, to a large extent, been covered by the discussion which had just taken place.
SIR RICHARD WINSTEDT pointed out that if the whole picture of which Sir Donald Cameron spoke was to be obtained, the Committee ought to be given fuller information than they now had; they ought to know not only what percentage of the children were receiving education but also what kind of education, whether it was at sub-grade or at elementary or at other schools; whether there was proper supervision and training of teachers, and whether the number of children in the schools was increasing, and so on.
MR. MAYHEW said that reference was rarely made in Colonial Education Reports to such subjects as schemes for expansion of education, enquiries into the economics of education, the cheapest means of obtaining effective education, and so forth. He suggested that a sub-committee might usefully be appointed to consider what kind of questions the Committee could properly advise the Secretary of State to put to the Colonial Governments.
The Committee agreed to Mr. Mayhew's suggestion and the following sub- committee was appointed:
Sir James Currie (Chairman).
Sir Donald Cameron.
Mr. Burney.
Dr. Dougall.
Dr. McLean.
Mr. Mayhew.
It was agreed that this sub-committee as also the statistics sub-committee, should have the power to co-opt in their deliberations any other persons whom they considered suitable.
9. Construction of Schools in Basutoland. A Memorandum by the Dominions Office regarding certain recommendations of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland, involving the construction of an Intermediate and a High School in Basutoland, had been circulated (A.C.E.C. 16/37).
In reply to a question MR. COSTAR said the Dominions Office were satisfied that the Territory could afford, though only just afford, the expenditure which would be involved if the proposals were put into effect.
SIR DONALD CAMERON supported the proposal. He drew attention to the Resident Commissioner's statement that boarding costs would be covered by fees, and asked the Committee to compare this with the recent proposal from the Gold Coast to charge nothing at all for boarding at the new Technical School at Sekondi (see A.C.E.C. 3/37). The Gold Coast was a much richer territory than Basutoland. Was it necessary for the only two European teachers in a school to be called Principal and Vice-Principal respectively?
MR. MAYHEW remarked that a big cut had been made in the salaries of European school teachers in the aided Mission schools. Some of this cut had been restored, but there appeared from the 1935 Report to be no immediate likelihood of the restoration of the remainder. He hoped that the proposed expenditure on higher education would not mean that these teachers would be kept permanently on a lower scale of salary?
Subject to consideration of this point, the Committee accepted the proposals generally, and recommended that they should be approved by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs.
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