NEW SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 209, 3 September 1932, Page 7

NEW SCHOOL.

PROMISED FOR PARNELL MINISTER PAYS A VISIT. a BUH.DING UNINSPIRING." RECOMMENDATION TO CABINET. An assurance that he would make a recommendation to Cabinet for the building of a new school on the St. Stephen's Avenue site was given by the Hon. R. Masters, Minister of Education, when he visited the present Parnell school this morning. The Minister was met at the school by a deputation headed by Mr. W. F. Schramm, M.P.. members of the Education Board, the echool committee, and the headmaster. Windows rattled before a cold southwest wind, which swept along the passages, and sagging floors creaked when the Minister made an inspection of th<; school, eo that the headmaster, Mr. J. W. McGechie, had little need to emphasise the dilapidated state of the old two-storeyed building. He mentioned that only three of the seven classrooms received any sunshine, the danger to pupils in the hilly playing ground (four having in recent months been sent to hospital with fractured limbs), and the inconvenient situation of the echool because of the traffic about it and the proximity of factories. "Children who live in ,the district are going to other schools because of the conditions here," Mr. McGechie added. Mrs. C. M. Neal, chairman of the school committee, thanked the Minister for his visit, and stressed the danger to pupils from the traffic on the streets bounding it. "We realieed that there was no hope of such an expenditure at the present time," stated Mr: A. G. Harris, secretary of the school committee, in mentioning that the original plans for the new school involved an estimated expen-

diture of £17,000." He said that the committee now approved of a much more modest building which had been suggested by the Education Board. Mr. Masters expressed hie appreciation of the interest which the local people had taken in an effort to secure a better school, and frankly admitted that there ■was little inspiration in the present building and its surroundings. He had taken over the responsibility of Minister of Education at a time when economy was essential. The fact that the amount of ,money voted had been reduced from £300,000 three years ago to £57,000 for this year meant that only really bad cases could be met. "Up to the preeent no grant had been made where a school existed which would accommodate the children attending it, and the only grants had been in cases where it was necessary to increase the accommodation to meet the growth in population, or where no school existed and the growth of settlement made it necessary."

If the necessity aroee, however, continued Mr. Masters, he must diverge from these principles. Parnell had been brought forward as the most necessitous case in the Auckland Education Board's area, and he would be guided by their knowledge of local conditions. "I say right now that I could not hesitate to refuse an expenditure of £17,000. It is impossible at the present time. I have looked into the new plans involving a much smaller sum, and they seem to be eminently suitable. I am going to make a favourable recommendation to Cabinet for the rebuilding of the school on the new site."