PUBLIC SCHOOL EXTRAS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20624, 13 August 1932, Page 8

PUBLIC SCHOOL EXTRAS.

SPECIAL FUND OF ENGLISH COLLEGE.

Mr C+. C. Turner, master of Marlborough College, at prize day referred to the high cost of public school education, And said he knew well of tho great sacrifices many parents wero makiug to keep their boys at school (states the London "Daily Mail" of Juno 25th). Tho most satisfactory stop would be to make a considerable reduction in tho school fees, but he thought they would understand that, in a school of nearly 750 boys, to make quite a moderate deduction in feos would absorb tho whole of the working balance which they had at their disposal each year. Thoy had decided throughout the year to aim rather at offering more assistance where it was most needed on tho lines of a circular sent to parents last October. (This announced the acceptance of an offer by the staff to pay a portion of their salaries into a fund from which grants could be made in the cases of boys who otherwise would have to leave.)

Mr Turner thanked those who had sent gifts tq the fund. Grants from that fund had given relief where i' was most needed and prevented the premature withdrawal of boys from.the school. It was a temporary measure, and it hud been a problem to decide how they could continue similar help for the future. An annual sum roughly equal to the emergency fund had been earmarked for the reduction of parents' expenses. Half of that sum would be utilised in tho abolition of thoso extra charges, which, though not very heavy, made a vexatious appearance on school bills. Special help would be given to a considerable number of parents who had two or more boys simultaneously at the school. In addition, a sum was being set aside to meet special cases of urgent and incidental difficulty.