In 1931 Wallace Sandford was appointed chairman of a three-man committee (with Professor J. McKellar Stewart and the Director of Education, William J. Adey) to enquiry into the cost of education. The panel recommended severe cost-cutting measures, which included the introduction of school fees, increases in the minimum sizes of country schools, amalgamation of high schools, and entrance examinations to high schools in order to halve enrolments. Adey signed a minority report. In 1938 Sir Wallace, as he had become, was elected as a
Liberal member of the
Legislative Council for the Central No.2 district. His politics were influenced by loyalty to the British Empire and the
laissez-faire belief that capitalists should be relatively free from interference by Government. ==Other interests==