GREY LYNN SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 135, 9 June 1910, Page 7

GREY LYNN SCHOOL.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE. The laying of the foundation stone of tie new State school for Richmond, Grey Lynn, was performed yesterday afternoon "by the Hon. Geo. IV)wide (Minister for Education), in the presence of a fair gathering of the public. Among those present were the Hon. Dr. Findlay (Minister for Justice), Mr. C. J. Parr (chairman of the Education Board), Mr. W. J. Holdsworth (Mayor of Grey Lynn), Messrs. G. Edgecum.be, J. D. McKenzie, G. J. Garland, and H. Barriball (Education Board members), George George (Director of Technical Education), and J. Fanell (the Board's architect).

Mγ. C. H. Sexton (chairman of the Newton Schools Committee), in asking Mr. Fowlds to lay the stone, referred to the great progress made by the district in the past few years, necessitating further school accommodation for the children of the locality, and briefly outlined tie history of the negotiations that had taken place in connection with the establishment of the scnooL.

Mr. Fowlds was then presented with a handsome trowel 'by Mr. Parr, on behalf of the Education Board, and preparatory to declaring the stone well and truly laid, pointed out that never had a side school increased so rapidly as that opened in the Bichmond Hall, and which within a few months had been attended by over 200 children without drawing from the other schools in the district. The new school, however, would absorb the surplus for a few years, the area acquired bemg four acres, and the floor space of the school to be provided being 3,552 square feet, giving ample accommodation for 355 children, or even 375. On the floor upstairs, moreover, would be good accommodation for a headmaster's, teacher's, and other rooms, besides a wide balcony, while ample space would be afforded for store, cloak rooms, etc. The contract price was £2,950, the Government grant being £3,175, including an amount to furnish the school. The school would be the first one built within the borough proper of Grey Lynn—in fact, the first public building of any kind within the borough, and he expected it would not be very long before an extension would have to be provided to cope with the growth of population. (Applause.) Mr. Fowlds then turned his attention to the progress of the borough, remarking that since the district was constituted a borough in 1886 (it was then called Newton), the population had increased from 1,833 to 7,465, and the number of dwellings from 337 to 1,300, of which number it was estimated about 1,000 were occupied by the owners, which, he thought, was an easy record for New Zealand. (Applause.) In the past 24 years, the sum of £39,000 had been expended on roads, etc, while between 1900 and 1909 the ordinary revenue Had increased from £2,853 to £7,829. Again, in 1900, the number of new accounts opened at the Newton and Grey Lynn branches of the Post Office Savings Bank was 139, deposits during the year 1,562, amounting to £10,381. In 1909 accounts opened numbered 391, deposits 4,652, amount deposited £30,392. (Applause.)

Mr. Parr, in the course of a few remarks, explained that nearly 40 new schools had been erected in the backblocks of Auckland province in the two years he had been chairman of the Education Board. The new Grey Lynn School would be a handsome building, and a credit to the district for all time, and on the design of which Mr. J. Farrell, the architect, could well be complimented.

Dr. Findlay was then invited to address a few word 3to the assemblage, and dwelt- on the blessings and advantages of a good educational system, and that it depended largely upon its educational system whether a people would grow into a useful democracy. He congratulated Grey Lynn on its new acquisition, and concluded with a few happy remarks anent the progress of the district, and its emergence from the dark days, -when it could boast of no public building.

Mr. Holds worth (Mayor of the Borongh) also addressed the gathering before the proceedings terminated.