Be More Economic

Bigger Education Grants Wanted

NG High School Could Be More Economic

TT could shortly be costing the I. Papua and New Guinea Admin istration about £120,000 per annum to send NG children to secondary schools in Australia.

A special sub-committee of the P-NG Public Service Association has now forwarded to Canberra its case for increased allowances. Pre sent allowance is £145 per annum,

plus one return air fare.

If Public Servants get the in crease for their children, all children going to secondary schools in Australia will likewise benefit.

It is understood that the PSA is asking for an increase of about 33 per cent, in the allowance.

Editorial Note

At the May meeting of the P-NG Legislative Council, the Director of Education said that there were currently 381 European children and 201 Asian children receiving the education grant of £145 per annum; in addition there were 29 children of mixed race who re ceived from £145 to £2OO per annum,

depending on the private means 01 their parents.

On these figures, the cost of sendi ing secondary school children t: Australia this year will cost th Administration somewhere aboui £89,000, plus cost of air fares. Ai increase of 33 per cent puts ii around £l2o,ooo—and each yea: brings an increase in the numbe: of children receiving the benefit.

The cost of sending children t» boarding-school in Australia is i tremendous burden on parents! nonetheless, it is obvious that th Administration milch-cow will giv only so much in this direction an« if too much pressure is put upoi if, parents may someday discover that the animal has gone dry.

The alternative to providing thes* secondary-education grants, is b build a secondary boarding-schoc in the Territory and this has beer alternatively planned and abandone* for the last 10 years.

Most P-NG parents, for reason, that are obvious, prefer to sen* their children to school in Australis once they are past the primary school stage, and would struggle t« do so even if a High School wen provided in the Territory.

There would be many headache; for the P-NG Department of Educa tion if it did try to establish a higH school in P-NG—but the saving o< £120,000 per year would do some' thing to ease the pain.

The average resident of Papua New Guinea finds it exceedingly difficult to make financial end” meet and this is mainly because h* has been caught up in the post-wa; period of boom and inflation tha, stems right back to Australia.

Nonetheless there could be some thing prophetic in the plea of Mr J. K. McCarthy at the Legislative Council meeting in Port Moresby recently, for tne employment o< more natives, Asians and Euronesi. ans in the public service of th* Territory. The economy of th» Territory just could not stand th* continued drain of recruiting people from Australia, he said.

It is perhaps as good a time ai any to reflect that before the wa;, Papua got along somehow on ar Australian grant of about £4o,oo*' and the Mandated Territory go< along under its own steam withouj any grant at all.

To-day, of course, the Australian Government subsidies Papua-Nev Guinea to the extent of from £5 t* £7 million per annum. A great deas of this simply goes on keeping thu wheels of administration lurnmjj and not on developmental projectJ that will help the Territory becomj self-supporting at any time in thj foreseeable future.

It is, for example, now calcui lated that it costs something lik: £6,000 to provide an official witl a modest 2-bedroom house.

The obvious counter to the above of course, is that if there were no: some allowances made for havini

live in P-NG, no one would go ,ere at all—they would be much ;tter off in Australia.

This is perfectly true. But there ■e already signs in Australia and 'erseas that the post-war boom is pering off, and already there is uch talk of man-made (or Gov nment-made) depressions. And le question arises: Will Australia ways be in the position to keep -NG floating along on a generous ibsidy.

The alternative is for someone to nd oil in the Territory. Out of the >yalty it would then collect the dministration would easily be able i afford to pay £2OO, or more, for ich secondary education grant.