ACLAND HOUSE HOSTEL

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26874, 29 October 1952, Page 7

ACLAND HOUSE HOSTEL

£lOOO GRANT SOUGHT FOR EXTENSION FURTHER REQUEST FOR NEW WING A grant of about £ 1000 will be sought by the Christchurch Girls’ High School Board of Managers from the Education Department to extend the preparation room at the school hostel, Acland House. In a report submitted to the board at a meeting last evening the property supervisor (Mr G. H. Tnornton) said that a new wing to provide a dormitory and diningroom would probably cost between £14,000 and £15,000; the cost of painting the exterior of the house would be about £1350; and the cost of extending the preparation room would be about £lOOO.

First priority should be given to the extension of the preparation room, said the principal (Miss J. Stewhrt). “Present conditions in this room are dreadful. The girls are sitting too close together to work well, and when they stand up to go, they fall over

The board had already asked the department for a grant to cover the cost of painting Acland House, said the chairman of the board-(Mr A. E. Caddick). It had done so with justification, because a hostel with a small number of pupils could not be made self-supporting. Boarding fees at the girls’ hostel were £32 10s a term, and at the Christchurch Boys’ High School hostel they were £35 a tepn. Mrs R. M. Macfarlane said she did not like the idea of extending a temSorary building. The preparation room ad been built from an army hut. and she thought it would be better to apply for the building of a new room. Extensions to old buildings were not always economic. “There are buildings in Christchurch that were put up temporarily during World "War I. and they never look anything but temporary' buildings,” she said. “But if we would have to wait several years for a new preparation room, then it would be better to go ahead and apply for an extension to the old room. As the need is urgent. I want to see something done straight away.” “The need is certainly urgent, and we must take what we can get,” said Miss M. Samuel.

Dr. R. ,O. Page, who moved the motion to apply for a grant of about £lOOO to build an extension to the room, said he agreed with Mrs Macfarlane, but, he felt the board had a better chande of getting an extension built at the present time. On the recommendation of Mrs R. Glen it was decided to make a fresh application to the department for a new tfing at the hostel.