EDUCATION WANTS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17430, 15 April 1922, Page 5

EDUCATION WANTS.

CANTERBURY BOARD AND MINISTER. EEFABTMENT'S BUILDING POLICY. The needs of the Canterbury Education Board were discussed with the Minister of Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr, at the conclusion of the Board 8 meeting on Thursday. The chairman (Mr G. W. Armitage) welcomed the Minister, and said that in the pas£ Mr Parr had given evidence of his keen and deep interest in educational matters, and he felt sure that the Minister would help them to the utmost of his powers. Building Policy. Arising out of the Board's application—the first on its urgent list, involving an expenditure of £IO,OOO m respect of a school at Lyttelton street, the Minister made a statement regarding the present building policy of the Department. £ "It is only a question of £IO,OOO/' said Mr Parr. It u ony a question of finance, and if it «eie the only application I think I could manage it. Tliere are demands from all over the Dominion, and the total requirements of the nine Boards run intd quite £1,500,000; if cut; to what we think the country should face, they would total quite £I,OOO, (XX). You are business men, and know quite as well as I do what the present financial position is, and that I cannot reasonably ask the Government to fancl £1,000,000." The Minister said that the principle he laid down on which he must work was that he must ask the country to find accommodation for children in those districts where there were ,rio schools—new settlements in the backblocks. They knew of the hardships that settlers underwent, and the least that could be done was to give the school children a roof over their heads. (Hear, hear.) That must be his first consideration. Then, where there was gross overcrowding, he had to make temporary provision by utilising adjacent halls which were well ventilated and otherwise suitable. The Department was renting at present at least 30 halls in the cities to cope with overcrowding. He was hopeful that the programme of rebuilding the old wornout schools and adding to the crowded schools would be resumed as soon as the financial c<jrner was turned. The halt in their programme was only temporary. The Canterbury Board had recognised the position, -and had - not been pushing the 'Department during the past six: months. The Board had been doing very well witSh its portable school buildings; the examples he saw on. Wednesday at Waimairi and Shirley had impressed him. "I would rather h*ve my child in one of those portable buildings that in the main Bcnool—the ventilation, light, and everything are firstclass.' These portable buildings are excellent as a temporary provision, and I compliment the Board on what it hr\s done." As to ,the matter of the Lyttelton street school, he would rather put up two permanent rooms at present than any temporary buildings. He would go .into the matter. The Board, had placed it first on the list, and it was his duty to consider it.

" Eedcliffs School. Mr Pair referred to the efforts mad© by the Redcliffs people in raising, funds for additions, and said that he had undertaken that the work should be put in hand at once. He was, however, nobody in that matter, and wished to nsk. the Board, if, it. proceed' with the work at bnce.? ; ' The chairman, after consulting the Board's architect, said the work would be put in hand at ; once, West Coast Schools. v After hearing the Hon. J. Grimmond and Mr H. J. Bignell regarding the Kiimara and Kanieri schools, Mr Parr said h*) would go into the question on his visit t& the. West Coast next month. 1 \ New Brighton Schools; Matters connected with, the New Brighton, North Brighton, and Arantu Schools were discussed, and the Minister stated tliuit Mr W. E. Spencer, General Professional Officer and Inspector, would visit the schools and report to iiim as to their condition.

Teachers' Residence at Owhenga. The Board asked that a teacher's residence should be provided at Owhenga, Chatham 1 Islands. It was stated that the majority of the houses were fisher- [ men's hats, and- unsuitable for ' tihe woman teacher in charge of the school. Mr PaiT said the Department was not building teachers' residences at the present time; the Board's application meant an expenditure of £BOO or £BOO i for a teacher who taught 14 pupils. It was stated that for a time the teacher boarded at a farmhouse, but that tlhis had caused dissensions. The Minister said he thought it was unfortunate that'theiv should be. such, dissensions, but he ccnsidered that it was the duty of people in such communities, in these times, to try to make provision for a teacher's boajd. Mr J. Jamjeson said Mr Arthur E. G. Rhodes (on Whose station the farmhouse ia and whose manager occupies it) had helped'the school bv giving land. Mr Jamieson suggested that some sort of cottage should be provided. It was. a wild country, and the only person tho. Board could get to take the position,of teacher was a-good girl from the West Coast who had seen some wild life. The Minister remarked that surely there was enouga public spirit in the "kingdom" of Owhenga to provide a teacher's residence. It seemed to him. that tho people required a little instruction in their duty in such a m itter. "I cannot find £BOO for a. residence—sea what you can do } " he added. Mr Peverill &nid (he could not recommend the expenditure of £BOO. Mr. Parr's final word was that the Board should endeavour to get the teacher boarded at the farmhouse. Shirley Playground. In 1919 the Department undertook (and carried out its promise) to provide £6OO towards the cost of acquiring land at Shirley for playground and other school purposes. Tie land was taken under tfhe Public Works Act, the price, as fixed by tho Assessment Court, being £1800; aftgr deducting the voted by the .Department and tu© money raised by-Shirley residents, there remains £IOSO owing on the purchase. The Board asked the Minister to increase the Department's grant. Mr Parr drew the Board's attention to the fact that the Department, when the decision to go to tlhe Assessment Court was arrived at, strongly ujged that the area to be aoquired should be reduoed: the Board Sad not taken this advice. It was stated that to have reduced the area would have meant losing the greater part of the frontage, and taking land that would not have been so 1 tIsgFUJI Mr Parr said they could have taken wthat land they wanted. After much, discussion the matter was left to the Minister for his consideration. Tlmarn West. Mr J. Gow explained the position in. respect of the Tintaru West and Wairoataitai Schools. , . Mr Pqrr said he thought tho remedy was to make Timaru West/into a full standard school; at present it is a side vitk undertook to have tho mat-

ter reported on, and promised that the Department would pay the rent of marquees at present in use at both 6chools. Lyttelton Gaol Site. _ The offer of the Department of Jnstice to sell the Lyttelton gaol site to the Education Department to provide playground accommodation for the Lyttelton school, was discussed at some length. The cost would be £3OOO. After discussion it was decided that members of the Board should visit and inspect the site, and that, in the meantime, the Minister of Justice (Hon. E. P. Lee) be asked to exempt the site from sale for three months. After going into details regarding floor space and average attendance, the Minister came to_ the conclusion that there was no serious overcrowding at Lyttelton West. Extension of Addington Site. The Minister said the proposal of the Addington Committee was to increase the site by purchasing one acre, the price quoted being £434. If the land was got at a reasonable price—the Board to be the judge—he was prepared to go half the cost up to £400; the Department's subsidy not to exceed £2OO. "They are awfully decent people out there," added Mr Parr. "Already they have raised £IOOO and spent it on work in connexion with the school. I was agreeably surprised to find that they were erecting shelter-slieds on the grounds out of their own money." Papanui Site. The Minister said the Department would subsidise, up to £2OO, the amount paid for additipnal land for the Papanui school. Other Matters. Mr E. H. Andrews introduced the subject of the appointment of teachers, and referred especially to the desirableness of the Board having discretionary power to forward on the name of an applicant who, though somewhat lower in grade, was considered to possess "equal claims" to the position. Mr Parr said the reference in Clause | 7 to "equal claims" referred to grade. He thought that the provision in the regulations giving the Board, on the advice _of the chief inspector, certain discretionary powers, were sufficient to meet the position. . Mr Parr said he would go into the question of the insurance of school children. He knew that the Department's view was that thev should accent no liability, but he would get the whole of the papers and see what the position was. As to the application for an additional grant for the Training College, Mr Parr said that he would ask the Director of Education to submit a report to him on the matter. The ehnirman thanked the Minister tor attending. Mr Parr expressed his pleasure at meeting the Board—it had "been rather on his conscience that he had not visited it earlier, but he had been exceedingly busy He had two portfolios that were troublesome and awkward—public health and education. He was glad to meet tho Canterbury Board to resume the cordial relations which had always existed between ,t and himself. He appreciated the Board's difficulties, and what he liked about the Bnnrd was that it appreciated his difficulties.